Labour law in SA has developed in leaps and bounds – Dr Grobler
Nowadays, South Africa’s labour laws largely comply with international standards unlike under the apartheid government when jobs were reserved for certain races.
LABOUR law was reasonably ‘healthy’ for some years before the 1994 democratic election occurred, but it has developed in leaps and bounds since then.
This is according to Dr Hilda Grobler, a director at Compliance Matters, as South Africa commemorates 30 years of democracy this year. As the country celebrates these years of freedom, we look at how labour laws have changed and developed after the apartheid government.
“Labour law developed in leaps and bounds prior to as well as after 1994. The Industrial Court started functioning in 1980 when numerous principles were developed. Many of these principles formed the bedrock of labour law at the time when the CCMA was established, in 1995, in terms of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995,” said Grobler.
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She revealed that one of the major changes that has occurred since has been the reworking of unfair dismissal disputes. Globler said, “It was no longer necessary to wait for a court date. An employee who is dismissed has 30 days to refer the matter to the CCMA or Bargaining Council. The dispute is conciliated and often arbitrated within the next 30 days so that both the employee and the employer know very quickly whether the dismissal stands as it was for a fair reason or whether the employee is reinstated.”
She discloses that, today, South Africa’s labour laws largely comply with international standards unlike under the apartheid government when there were jobs reserved for certain races only. She said that while only about 20% of cases were settled at the Industrial Court, the CCMA has been able to settle up to 70% of the disputes referred to it nationally.
“The CCMA’s point of departure is to offer a more accessible, informal, cooperative, democratic and fair process where parties sit around the table and discuss their issues. This, more often than not, results in settling disputes amicably between employers and employees,” she said.
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Grobler lauded the introduction of trade unions, saying that trade union members are the first-place employees. She said, “All employees are protected by law through employment legislation, such as the Labour Relations Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the Employment Equity Act. Belonging to a union has clear benefits, for example, if there is a dispute, the union can assist the employee, or it represents employees, for example, at wage negotiations. Trade unions have their own constitutions to which the members subscribe.”
Nowadays, Grobler said every citizen has a right to choose their trade, occupation or profession freely as defined in the constitution of the country. She admitted that not all workers in South Africa rely on the National Minimum Wage Act.
“Many workers are employed in industries that are regulated by the large number of bargaining councils that exist in this country. These bargaining councils compel the employer to pay employees the agreed wage together with all the agreed benefits. There are, however, some employees who do not share the protection of the bargaining council agreements, and until the introduction of the National Minimum Wage Act, they were extremely underpaid,” Grobler concludes.
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