Wiseman Khuzwayo
Employers will have to provide reasons to courts for employing people on a temporary basis as well as face criminal charges for not paying people overtime, if the amendments to labour laws that have been agreed on by Nedlac partners are approved by Parliament.
Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant told Business Report at the weekend that Nedlac had agreed on the amendments to two labour bills, the Labour Relations Act and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. The two amendments deal with the status of the employee as well as additional remuneration for overtime.
She hinted that a Nedlac agreement on the more controversial labour law amendment bills was imminent.
The two bills propose to criminalise labour broking and limit temporary employment.
The four bills were gazetted last December and Oliphant has called for a speedy conclusion to the debate around them so they can be tabled before Parliament as soon as possible.
Nedlac is the chamber for negotiation between the government, business, labour and civil society.
Cosatu has threatened mass action against labour broking at the end of February.
Last week it said: “While the government’s legislative proposals did not constitute a ban on labour broking, they were also not the weak form of regulation originally called for by business.”
Nevertheless, the federation had decided to maintain the call for a ban on labour brokers.
“Cosatu remains utterly opposed to the practice of labour broking, a form of human trafficking, which has condemned thousands of workers to insecure jobs with poverty pay, no benefits and no job security, and will continue with the mass action at the end of February,” it said.
Oliphant on Friday introduced a pilot project in which the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) will invest R129 million in a three-year skills development programme.
She said the UIF was committed to investing R84m to fund training that would be conducted by the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector Education and Training Authority (Merseta) to provide essential skills to at least 1 500 trainees.
The fund will also invest R45m in the Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA) to train 1 000 learners.
Oliphant said: “The investment is informed by the New Growth Path’s (NGP’s) projections of massive job opportunities that lie ahead in its diagnosis on key drivers for job creation. In terms of infrastructure development, the NGP projects that this sector can create up to 250 000 jobs a year in four activities: construction of new infrastructure, operation of new facilities, expanded maintenance and the manufacture of components for the infrastructure programme.”
UIF commissioner Boas Seruwe told Business Report that the fund had a surplus of R9 billion in the last financial year and had assets of R60bn.
The partnership by the department, Merseta and the MQA was established in 2009 as a result of massive job losses, which created the need for re-skilling of retrenched workers.