Message from Phillip Dexter, Executive Director of Nedlac

The year 2001 is a year of important challenges for the NEDLAC constituencies. Having adopted a far-reaching declaration at the Annual Summit of NEDLAC in 2000, the constituencies now need to put flesh to these broad agreements. Essentially this means turning a stated commitment towards addressing the identified national priorities into a practical set of agreements.

This challenge has to be faced and overcome at a time of sharpening contradictions in our society. The ongoing racial polarisation that characterises so much of South African society has to be confronted. Incidents of blatant racism are once again becoming commonplace. We cannot ignore them. The impact of international or global sentiment on the economy must also be considered. The constituencies must try to make progress on reaching agreement in the context of these powerful, often unpredictable and rarely favourable forces.

Despite these contradictions, the constituencies can and must meet the challenges with and through strengthening social dialogue. There are positive developments in this regard. The Presidential Working Groups have settled into a closer working relationship with NEDLAC. The Millennium Labour Council is proving to be a valuable instrument of bilateral social dialogue between business and labour. These developments point to a maturing and expanding social dialogue culture in our country.

The key issue is whether the constituencies are prepared to make the necessary trade-offs to reach agreement on the issues that they have identified. The agreed priorities are

• Promoting and mobilising investment and creating decent work for all

• Ensuring economic empowerment for all, especially for black people, workers, people with disabilities, women and youth

• Eradicating poverty and addressing the legacy of under-development and

• Strategically engaging globalisation to the best advantage of the country.

If these priorities are considered as an inter-linked package then there can be trade-offs between the constituencies. Similarly, if the constituencies are not overly ambitious and focus on achieving incremental agreements, they may be more successful in the long term. For instance, an approach towards promoting investment could initially involve direct contributions as investments by all the constituencies and then move towards productivity agreements later. Another possibility could be that of government making a commitment to increase spending on social services as the prelude to a discussion on the concrete measures that are needed to make the social plan agreed at the Presidential Job Summit in 1998 a practical reality. These commitments could represent a first level of agreements. As these are finalised and implemented the constituencies could begin to negotiate further agreements, such as those required on skills development and training and on a two to three year wage negotiation bargaining cycle.

On the broader front, the year ahead at NEDLAC promises to be an exciting one. NEDLAC will launch a new publication this year that deals with socio-economic development trends. A high-level round-table series will be implemented to expose the NEDLAC constituencies and the general public to key local and international figures who raise pertinent issues relating to social dialogue.

The four NEDLAC chambers will also deal with various key issues. These will inc the Mercosur trade negotiations, the formulation of an industrial strategy, sector summits, the pension funds surplus, HIV and AIDS and the labour law amendments. In addition there will be a civil society summit, a summit on the transformation of the financial services sector and a conference on globalisation.

NEDLAC's Summit will be held on 1 September this year, by which time we would hope to be able to report to the nation significant progress made on achieving the goals set out in the declaration of the summit 2000.