Nedlac Executive Council
ratifies five agreements
Friday, February 28, 1997
At its first meeting of 1997 on
Friday, February 28, the Nedlac Executive Councilratified five
agreements critical to the successful implementation of the Labour
RelationsAct, to the creation of jobs in South Africa and to
development. These five agreements now bring the total number of
agreements reached by Nedlac since its inception two years ago to
21.
The Executive Council also adopted a final report from the
Development Chamber, aprocess for dealing with future notifications
of socio-economic protest action in terms ofsection 77 of the
Labour Relations Act, and a process for dealing with employment
standards.
The five agreements ratified are:
- Regulations for the essential services committee, which is
provided for in the Labour Relations Act and will be set up under
the auspices of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and
Arbitration.
- The amendment to the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and
Diseases Act.
- Job creation in public works programmes and the construction
industry.
- Guidelines for the establishment of local development
structures.
- The National Development Agency.
Reports
The Executive Council adopted a report on:
Detailed action plans of constituencies that participated in the
Nedlac and Department of Safety and Security November 1996
conference on crime and violence. These action plans are aimed at
taking forward the core resolution adopted at the conference,
namely, to make 1997 the year of local action to prevent crime at
community level in partnership with local authorities and the
police.
Processes
The Executive Council also adopted a proposal developed in
consultation with the Nedlac overall convenors on how to deal with
future noficiations of socio-economic protest action in terms of
section 77 of the Labour Relations Act. Nedlac received its first
such notification from the Food and Allied Workers' Union when it
protested against fishing quotas and fisheries policies at the
opening of Parliament earlier this month.
A status report on employment standards negotiations was tabled
at the Executive Council to inform its discussion of this issue.
The report outlines the process followed to date, and also outlines
the core outstanding issues in the negotiations. The Executive
Council also ratified an agreement of the overall convenors that
tripartite negotiations should recommence as soon as possible, with
delegations to be led by the overall convenors.