NEDLAC WORK PROGRAMME FOR 2004

Development Chamber

Higher Education has been a theme on the chamber's work programme, and the implementation of the Guidelines for Mergers and Incorporations of Higher Education Institutions will continue to be monitored.

Under the theme of social security, the chamber will engage on the Parliamentary recommendations on and Health Chapter of the Comprehensive Social Security System policy document.

New issues on the chamber agenda will be National Transport policy, and other issues around public transport, as well as Government's Free Basic Electricity Policy. The chamber will continue to monitor implementation of the Integrated Rural Development Strategy and the Urban Renewal Strategy.

In terms of GDS implementation, the Chamber will work with the Trade and Industry Chamber on the promotion of cooperatives and the Expanded Public Works Programme.

Preparations for a conference on co-operatives are well underway. The chamber will work together with the Labour Market Chamber on skills development issues.

Labour Market Chamber

Skills Development and Employment Equity are two important ongoing issues on the Labour Market Chamber agenda, with particular focus on commitments made in the Growth and Development Summit, such as strengthening of SETAs and targeting the disability and youth sectors in learnerships.

New issues for the chamber agenda include the Protected Disclosures Act, the Insolvency Bill, amendments to the Code of Good Practice on the Handling of Sexual Harassment in the workplace, the sectoral determination on the salaries of domestic workers, social health insurance, the National Qualifications Framework System and a Draft Protocol on the facilitation of movement of persons within SADC.

Public Finance and Monetary Policy Chamber

Three important issues coming out of the GDS will be handled in the Public Finance Chamber: Administered prices, the Pension/Provident Fund Trustees conference scheduled for September, and fleshing out the agreement on investors working towards investing 5% of their investible income in appropriate financial instruments.

Standing issues include Financial Sector Transformation, a technical budget policy session, discussions around tax policy and monetary policy. There will also be a a presentation by the Presidency on the Government's "Ten year Review".

Trade and Industry Chamber

The Trade and Industry Chamber will continue its sector focused work, especially with regards to a number of sector summits that are in the planning stages. These include the Metals and Engineering, Chemicals, Construction and ICT sectors. On the trade policy front, the agenda of the Teselico committee includes WTO, SACU-USA, SACU-MERCOSUR, SA-SADC and SA-EU trade agreements, as well as an overarching trade policy framework.

Promoting local procurement is a focus of the chamber, particularly with regards to the GDS. The Chamber will continue to monitor sector-based research conducted under the Fund for Research into Industrial Development, Growth and Equity.

Ongoing items on the agenda include BEE, SMME strategy and manufacturing strategy, whilst the chamber will take the lead in implementing the GDS agreement on jobs impact and monitoring. It will work with the Public Finance Chamber on Public Investment Initiatives and administered pricing, and with the Development Chamber on the Expanded Public Works Programme. Possible new legislation to be tabled includes Consumer Protection, Consumer Credit and Amendments to the Companies Act.

Other issues

The Management Committee agreed that the task team that had worked on the draft National Framework on the Prevention and Treatment of HIV and AIDS would meet again, in order to finalise an agreement on constituencies' commitments in this regard. Nedlac communications

We hope that you like the new-look Dialogue newsletter, which, due to negotiations with our service providers, we have been able to bring to you in a new colour format. The number of editions of the Dialogue will also increase in 2004, to be able to bring you additional information on Growth and Development Summit implementation. Editions of the Dialogue will appear in February, March, June, August, September, October and November. Please let us know of any change of address, or if you haven't received your copy. If you would like to be added to our postal or email database, please contact us.

As ever, our website (www nedlac.org.za) will be updated on a regular basis with our media releases and final reports. There are also several useful links to other organisations. We receive about 12 000 visitors to the site each month. As usual, we will produce our Annual Report of activities and socio-economic trends in the year under review, which will appear at the end of July. Please contact us if you would like a copy.

Look out for our regular features in the South African Labour Bulletin, and we will be starting a new joint venture with New Agenda, a socio-economic policy journal with a particular focus on Nepad.

If you require information on Nedlac for a presentation, we have a standard Powerpoint presentation, which can be adapted for your purposes. We host both local and foreign visits to Nedlac.We are able to contribute a limited amount of written material to constituencies having exhibitions, and are also happy to keep relevant constituency material for distribution from our offices, so send us copies of your publications for our display tables.