PROMOTING DIALOGUE AROUND POSSIBLE SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROTEST ACTION

What is section 77

South Africa's new labour law recognises that workers have the right to take protest action to promote and protect their economic and social interests. Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act gives workers, for the first time, the right to take part in protest action to promote or defend their socio-economic interest and be protected against dismissal and other disciplinary action.

Prior to the new LRA, such protest action, like the Cosatu mass action in the 1980s and early 1990s to protest against the introduction of VAT and against hikes in the petrol price was deemed to be unlawful and workers that participated in the protests were often dismissed.

As with all rights, the rights given to workers in section 77 come with certain obligations. What are these obligations ?

• A registered trade union or federation must serve a notice on Nedlac of possible protest action over a socio-economic matter.

• The matter giving rise to the notice must be considered in Nedlac in an attempt to resolve the matter. Nedlac typically convenes a special Management Committee meeting within 14-days of receiving the notice for this purpose.

• Thereafter, the union or federation must serve a second notice on Nedlac of its intention to proceed with the protest action. This second notice must be served on Nedlac at least 14-days before the protest action starts.

Disputes considered by Nedlac in terms of section 77

Since the new LRA came into operation in November 1996, Nedlac has received over twenty notices. Not all of these were valid notices, as many dealt with matters of mutual interest between employees and employers.

A section 77 notice from the National Union of Mineworkers in February 1998 about the ongoing retrenchments in the gold-mining industry was considered by Nedlac and led to a moratorium on retrenchments pending the gold summit which took place last year. This helped create a more positive climate in which to search for solutions to the gold mining crisis and led to the establishment of the gold mining crisis committee which stills meets almost a year later.

Notices from the South African Democratic Teachers Union and the Suid-Afrikaanse Onderwysers Unie about the crisis in education were also considered by Nedlac last year. A process was put into place by Nedlac to address the problems in education which had caused the unions to table notices of possible protest action in the longer-term by facilitating engagement around budget planning in provinces. An investigation into allegations of classrooms without teachers was also conducted resulting in the employment of temporary teachers in kwaZulu-Natal.

This year saw the first section 77 notice being tabled by Fedusa and the National Union of Prosecutors of SA against the Department of Justice and the condition of the criminal courts in SA. After one meeting convened by Nedlac to consider the matter, a task team was established under the auspices of the Department of Justice's departmental bargaining chamber to investigate the grievances. A report will be submitted to Nedlac by the end of March.

Currently, Nedlac is considering a notice of possible protest action submitted by Nehawu about transformation in the tertiary education sector. To date, two meetings have been held. At the second meeting, representatives from the councils of each university and technikon were invited to attend in order to try to resolve the issues raised by Nehawu. A further meeting is planned before the end of the month.

A number of themes are common to many of the section 77 notices received by Nedlac. Irrespective of the specific details of the particular dispute the core of the matter is often poor communication, a lack of information disclosure, and the absence of an appropriate forum in which the union could raise its grievances. Many of the meetings convened by Nedlac to consider the notices of protest action result in process solutions: the setting up of a task team or committee to discuss the union's grievances and find solutions, like the gold summit for example.

Nedlac provides a platform for the parties to a dispute to talk to each other - to engage in dialogue. This is what Nedlac is all about.