Deputy President challanges Nedlac to secure tough
employment accord
Nedlac has been issued with a challenge: to secure a new "tough
employment accord" not later than the Nedlac Summit of May 2000.
Deputy President, Jacob Zuma issued this challenge to Nedlac's
Executive Council at a special session held on 26 and 27
August.
The Deputy President posed the question: Have Nedlac's
constituencies worked jointly and severally to promote the goals of
economic growth, participation in economic decision-making and
social equity? He concluded that although Nedlac parties had worked
together to finalise pieces of labour and other legislation, had
secured "sufficient consensus" on a number of issues, and had
worked together to produce Nedlac's "proudest achievement to date",
the Presidential Jobs Summit Declaration, the answer to the
question could not be a resounding "yes".
Nedlac could be proud of the new commitment to job creation, but
there were fundamental issues which had to be resolved if the
mandate of Nedlac was to be fulfilled. These issues incd
productivity and macro-economic policy, issues around economic
restructuring and the rights and obligations of employers and
employees in relation to labour market issues such as "dismissal
for operational reasons." Deputy President Zuma said that hard
bargaining on these difficult issues must now begin in order to
complete the accord that was reached at the Jobs Summit. In this
context, he said the challenge for Nedlac was clear: to put the
"hard" issues back on the table and find solutions urgently.
COME TO THE TABLE WITH TEA
In true Nedlac tradition, Cosatu General Secretary Zwelinzima
Vavi was the first to come up with an acronym for the Deputy
President's challenge. He said that in principle, organised labour
would want to ensure that before the next Nedlac summit of May
2000, they come to the table with tea … tea? A Tough Employment
Accord.
Vavi thanked the Deputy President for reminding the Nedlac
parties of the issues that were not concluded in the run-up to the
Presidential Jobs Summit. He said that the challenge to the
Executive Council would be how to ensure that the issues that were
not concluded find a way into the work programmes of all the Nedlac
chambers.
Deputy Chairperson of Business South Africa, Andre Lamprecht,
said that Business had noted the careful balance that was struck in
the Deputy President's speech. He said that it was up to the
parties to collectively instill sufficient confidence in themselves
and in the economy so as to encourage investment. The other vital
aspect to ensuring adequate sustainable growth was skills
development, said Lamprecht.
INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT COUNCIL
In his opening address to Parliament after the June elections,
President Thabo Mbeki introduced the concept of establishing an
international investment council, as well as four working groups,
where government would interact on a bilateral level with
stakeholders. Deputy President Zuma said that these groupings would
be important in ensuring that South Africa is an attractive
destination for foreign investment.
In discussing the Deputy President's speech, the Nedlac parties
were keen to find out more details about these groups, who would be
serving on them and how they would affect Nedlac.
Minister of Trade and Industry, Alec Erwin, whose task it will
be to set up the groupings, explained that Nedlac would continue to
fulfil its fundamental purpose of bringing social partners together
to reach maximum consensus.
The purpose of the international investment council would be to
pull together a grouping of senior business leaders from across the
world that could begin to grasp South Africa's economic vision and
effectively become ambassadors for South Africa. The second purpose
would be to use these experienced international business people as
a sounding board - getting their insights on how they see Africa,
and South Africa. They were looking at the council consisting of
about 15 people.
The four working groups would be separate from the investment
council. They would constitute contact points between the President
and important stakeholders. The four groupings are: big business;
black business; commercial agriculture and the trade unions. Deputy
President Zuma said in his speech that they would meet relatively
infrequently and be a vehicle for high-level decision-makers to
communicate directly with the Presidency. Issues arising from these
interventions may even be referred to Nedlac for elaboration,
resolution and implementation, said Zuma.
EMPLOYMENT CRISIS
Deputy President Zuma, in elaborating on his challenge regarding
the employment accord, affirmed that "we all agree that employment
creation cannot be achieved through labour market management alone.
Getting the mix of labour market, industrial, development and
macro-economic policies right is fundamental to job growth." He
said that South Africa's input into the World Trade Organisation
was as important as productivity for employment.
Constituencies had an opportunity to further debate the Deputy
President's input during a focus session on the employment
crisis.