NEDLAC TABLES REPORT ON LABOUR LAW AMENDMENTS
Nedlac finalised its report on the Labour Law Amendments negotiations in September and this was tabled to Parliament in early October. As is evident from the report, a high level of agreement was reached on a wide range of difficult and complex amendments. The report concludes "the fact that substantive agreement was reached demonstrates yet again the value of social partnership. It also bodes well for the subsequent processes of implementation of the legislation." Read more

NEDLAC PARTIES URGED TO IMPLEMENT SKILLS STRATEGY 
The Minister of Labour, Membathisis Mdadlana, has urged labour, business and community to ensure that the sector education and training authorities (Setas) which had been established in various industries, were working. Speaking at the Nedlac Executive Council meeting in August, the Minister said. "If Setas are setting targets too low or are trapped in processes which seem to deliver outputs too slowly, it is the job of the employers and the unions to correct these." Read more

EXCO BRIEFED ON BUDGET
The Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel, briefed Nedlac leadership at the Executive Council meeting. He said the budget was being tabled on 20 February 2002, with the medium term budget policy statement being tabled on 30 October 2001. He welcomed the opportunity to interact with senior leadership, but said that the quality of interaction would be improved if constituencies entered the process at an earlier stage.  Read more

F.R.I.D.G.E
In 1995, the Japanese government made a grant of approximately R8.1 million, which formed the basis of a research fund under the auspices of Nedlac. It was used to fund investigations that aimed to:
Improve competitiveness; Be implementable; Inject international and local expertise; Build individual and institutional capacity among key stakeholders; Contribute to collaboration on policy and development issues. Read more

 

 

BRIEFS
Government tabled its Industrial Strategy document earlier this year. A task team has been set up to enable labour and business to critique Government's document, after which DTI will respond. Parliament is to hold hearings on the document next year. Read more

 

 

NEDLAC SUMMIT 2001 
The Nedlac Summit was not able to take place on 1 September due to clashes with the International Racism Conference. It will now take place on 27 October, at the Sandton Convention Centre.