Johannesburg - South Africa could soon have a code of good practice on collective bargaining and industrial action, regulating all aspects of strike action.
A National Economic, Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) committee comprising of government, business, labour and civil society has resolved on the code as they deliberate with the hope of finding solutions to lasting peace in SA's labour relations.
On Friday the task team looking into the subject and also into wage inequality met in Rosebank where they agreed on the code.
There’s been complaints in the labour market about the state of the country’s collective bargaining system, with some employers warning it was going to the dogs.
Unions felt undermined by employers, while the bosses said they blamed the labour relations act for giving too much power to workers.
“This Code will cover all phases of industrial disputes including pre-negotiation, negotiation, post-negotiation, dispute, strike and lockout, post-strike and lockout,” said Nedlac’s Kim Jurgensen in a statement.
The task team is chaired by deputy president, Cyril Ramaphosa, who attended Friday’s meeting with the ministers of labour and economic development.
He applauded the social partners for work already done on the question of the national minimum wage.
“The Committee of Principals committed to speed up the processing of research studies on various features of a national minimum wage system, to prepare for the critical milestone of setting a particular financial level for the national minimum wage,” said Nedlac.
The parties are expected to move on with their work after Friday’s discussions of the first reports submitted to the presidency since the research was commissioned by President Jacob Zuma.
Labour Bureau