Nedlac Executive Councilmeets for last time in 1997
Friday, 28 November 1997

The Nedlac Executive Council met today for the last time this year and considered several reports on negotiating processes that are nearing completion, as well as a process to be followed for the social partners' input into a jobs summit.

A special session on the transformation of thehealth system in South Africa ended with a motion of congratulations on the work of the Department of Health on reducing disparities and inequities in the health system being supported by all four social partners.

Jobs summit

The meeting decided on a two-phase approachtowards formulating the Nedlac social partners' consensus input to the jobs summit. This process is set out in detail below.

Uniform tariff-pricing policy

The memorandum of understanding on a uniform tariff-pricing policy for municipal services is on the brink of completion. Only one final constituency-mandating process still has to be completed, and the Executive Councilmandated the Management Committee to finalise agreement at its first meeting of 1998, on 6 February.

Skills development bill

Comments by delegates to the meeting that the discussions on the skills development bill have been characterised by a real spirit of consensus-seeking led to all parties expressing confidence that the few outstanding issues would be resolved as soon as possible. The final round of negotiations on the bill will take place from 2-4 February 1998, and the Executive Council today mandated the Management Committee to ratify an agreement on the bill when its meets on 6 February.

Demarcation applications

The meeting approved five applications for the demarcation of sectors and areas of bargaining councils referred to Nedlac in terms of the Labour Relations Act. These sectors are:

• The sugar-manufacturing industry.
• The clothing industry in northern Natal.
• Manufactured fibres.
• The road-transport (goods) industry.
• The clothing industry in the Western Cape.

The meeting also agreed the terms of referencefor a Nedlac standing committee on demarcation, as well as a Nedlac procedure forconsidering applications for demarcation.

PROCESS OF PREPARATIONS FOR THE JOBS SUMMIT

1. Broad approach to an employment-creationstrategy

The general approach which has emerged from the discussions held in the Nedlac Management Committee to date is that, even if growth targets are achieved, the South African economy is fundamentally not a labour-absorbingone. In order to seriously address the problem of unemployment and underemployment in South Africa, a concentrated effort will be required by the Nedlac partners to enhance employment-creation opportunities.

To achieve the required degree of net jobcreation, short and long-term employment-generating opportunities, and the structuralconstraints which limit the exploitation of these opportunities, must be identified. Anambitious and coordinated policy programme will be required to address key constraints andpursue the opportunities.

2. The process towards the jobs summit

The two-track approach discussed in the extendedManagement Committee meeting of 31 October 1997 was agreed to. This comprises one trackfocusing on a framework for employment and the other track on the particular mechanisms toaddress employment creation. Government has proposed to cluster issues as follows:

• Key employment-generating opportunities.
• Creating a conducive environment for employment creation.

It is envisaged that the work related to the jobssummit will occur in three phases:

• Phase one: investigation, information-gathering and defining the priorities.
• Phase two: consultation and negotiation.
• Phase three: after the jobs summit.

3. Phase one: investigation,information-gathering and defining priorities

Work currently being done by government and theother social partners, work being done in Nedlac, as well as relevant international experience should all be accessed in this phase of the process. The objective of the firstphase is to crystallise the priorities and agenda in each "cluster" of issuesfor the jobs summit.

Government, labour, business and community haveuntil the end of February 1998 to produce draft employment strategies that would serve as a basis for discussions and negotiations with each other. These discussions and negotiations will take place in phase two. To initiate discussions, a workshop on the draft employment strategy and relevant international experience should be held.

An interactive approach should be adopted whichenables both that each constituency be given time to work autonomously on developing itsproposals and which provides opportunities for the parties to engage and cooperate with each other through phase one. The Nedlac chambers should also be asked to generate inputsfor the jobs summit on their areas of work. Interaction and coordination will take place through regular meetings of the technical committee. The various proposals arising from these processes will be used as an input into the second phase.

The work generated through this process will be presented to a top-level workshop which shall be empowered to conclude the work of phase one and give direction for phase two.

3. Phase two: consultation and negotiation

The objective is to reach agreed substantive proposals to take to the jobs summit. It is envisaged that the jobs summit will also identify further areas of work, relevant to an ongoing employment-creation strategy, to be tackled in the period after the jobs summit. Phase two culminates in the jobs summit.

4. Phase three: after the jobs summit

Substantial post-summit work is envisaged. This will include implementation and further development of issues identified in phases one and two.