Relations to get back on track
The threatened strike action was averted but it was mutually accepted by the parties that the relationship between management and labour had been strained and an amicable and professional relationship needed to be restored.
CITY POWER has appointed Charles Nupen, an attorney and alternative dispute resolution specialist, to facilitate a process to mend relations between management and organised labour.
Communications officer for City Power, Sydney Mphahlele, informed the COURIER on Monday, November 16, that the appointment of Nupen was conducted and finalised as part of an agreement reached between City Power and the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu).
In October, the chairperson of the City Power board, reverend Frank Chicane, met with Samwu following a threat of strike action by the union. The threatened strike action was averted but it was mutually accepted by the parties that the relationship between management and labour had been strained and an amicable and professional relationship needed to be restored. To that end, that the services of a highly respected labour relations professional were sought and secured to facilitate a process to improve the relationship between the parties.
After several years in legal practice in Cape Town and Johannesburg, where he gained experience in civil litigation and labour law, Nupen was appointed executive director of the Independent Mediation Service of South Africa from 1987 to 1995. During this time he conducted hundreds of mediations and arbitrations across all sectors of the South African economy.
In 1994 he was appointed as a commissioner of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) which oversaw South Africa’s first national democratic elections. In 1995 and 1996 he was a key adviser in the establishment of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), South Africa’s first national public dispute settlement agency and then served as the CCMA’s first executive director. From 1998 to 2008 Nupen directed technical cooperation projects in Africa for the International Labour Organisation (IOL), a Geneva based UN agency.
Since 2008, he has been consulting in the field of employee relations and has been involved in high level interventions to resolve commercial and labour disputes, and to address dysfunctional relationships and systems in both corporate settings and in professional service firms. Nupen has also managed major multi-stakeholder negotiations in both the public and private sectors.
For more information, residents are encouraged to contact City Power’s spokesperson, Yumna Sheik on 083 704 9290.
