Special Project 2: Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP)

The social partners at NEDLAC have discussed South Africa's challenges over a number of years and have used social dialogue as an effective tool to address these challenges. The constituents of organised labour, the business community and government have participated in the governing body of the ILO and have supported the introduction of the decent work country programme as a means of translating ILO values to national realities.

Initial Areas of focus for the Decent Work Country Programme for South Africa;

The following areas of focus have been identified for future work. The constituents will reflect on the nature and extent of ILO involvement and the proposed timelines and resource requirements to be considered. The areas of focus are:

1. Social security (retirement, unemployment benefits, disability, maternity, etc) -  providing capacity to constituents through making available information on ILO standards, technical assistance, knowledge on comparative systems, etc.

2. Trade union and employer organisation and collective bargaining
a. Sharing innovative strategies to build organisation and recording and publicising best-practice case studies
b. Promoting collective bargaining - at sectoral, national and regional levels, including technical support, research and capacity building.
c. Building capacity among trade unions and employer organisations to enable them to participate effectively in policy implementation
d. Promoting and improving the membership of trade unions and employer organisations who are in bargaining councils and at NEDLAC.

3. Placing decent work at the centre of economic and social policies
a. Monetary policy, inflation and employment
b. Trade policy, industrial policy and promotion of decent work
c. Fiscal and other areas
d. Decent work indicators: improving official employment statistics and developing appropriate indicators

4. Enterprise development
a. Small and medium enterprises
b. Development of cooperatives and social entrepreneurship
c. Labour-intensive sectors
d. Public enterprises

5. Strengthening enforcement mechanisms through improved labour inspection in the public sector and in bargaining councils

6. Skills development programme
a. Institutional including strengthening the functioning and governance of SETAS
b. Evaluating the success of skills initiatives

7.  Growing the levels of employment:
a. special challenges of youth and women
b. expanded PWPs
c. sensitive and labour-absorbing sectors
d. Incorporating decent work in all employment creation initiatives

8. Promotion of ILO standards and values
a. Ratification of conventions: technical assistance for further ratification and support for compliance with existing commitments
b. Publicity campaigns on ratified Conventions and on the packages of fundamental, governance and gender conventions
c. Promotion of ILO Declaration on social justice for a fair globalisation and implementation of the country-level recommendations

9. Building institutional capacity
a. Nedlac managerial capacity; research and policy support
b. Bargaining Councils support programme: staff training, publicity and booklets, role in industrial policy, regulation of informal economy, provision of social security and social protection rights, wage regulation, capacity-building of the constituents (including unions and employers operating in small-businesses), support for improving the extension of agreements
c. Dispute resolution institutions: the Labour courts and the CCMA and accredited bargaining councils
d. Other labour market institutions including promotion of institutional co-operation
e. Co-regulation models where appropriate

10. The informal economy/second economy: promoting formalisation, improving enterprise performance, enforcing labour standards, promoting trade union organisation and employer organisation in the informal economy.

11. Strengthening the employment relationship: atypical work, contract work, subcontracting, casual work, part-time work.

12. HIV/Aids at the workplace - strengthening union and employer capacities at the workplace

13. Occupational Safety and Health
a. Improving workplace safety
b. Reviewing legislation and regulations
c. Improving the functioning of the Compensation Commission

14. Wages and incomes - minimum wages, support for the Employment Conditions Commission, bargaining councils, research on trends in wages, incomes and inequality and technical support to constituents.
15. Employment Equity

16. Public policy initiatives and decent work: covering a range of ever-changing issues such as insolvency, competition laws, poverty measures, etc.

Governance

The following guidelines will constitute the basis to draft a MoU covering governance issues between the ILO country and regional offices and South Africa:

1. The ILO Programme and Budget activities in South Africa should be aligned with the DWCP in order to give effect to the agreed priorities of ILO constituents.
2.  Governance arrangements will include the following
3. Nedlac should be used for the consideration of the framework of ILO work and the representatives of the parties on the Governing Body of the ILO will constitute a Committee to consider the detailed programmes and to interact with both the field and headquarter structures of the ILO.
   
   1. Annual meeting where the programmes are tabled and draft budgets discussed with the ILO Office and agreed by the constituents
   2. Regular reviews of progress to be provided by the Office to constituents
   3. All new programmes to be approved by constituents

Phase 1 of the process to develop the National Decent Work Country Programme Framework has been completed.  Phase 2 will commence in the 2009/10 reporting period.