NEDLAC AVERTS FEDUSA PROTEST ACTION AROUND STATE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Nedlac held a special management committee meeting today to consider the notice served by the Federation of Unions of SA (FEDUSA) regarding possible protest action because of the poor state of the criminal courts, poor working conditions and excessive demands being placed on public prosecutors.

This notice had been served by the federation interms of s77(1)(b) of the Labour Relations Act, which gives workers the right to embark on protest action to promote and protect their social and economic interests, if they follow certain procedures. Nedlac is required to consider the notice with a view to resolving the matter through a process of facilitation.

At today's meeting, the following issues were raised by Fedusa:

• The need for an audit of the court infrastructure and the working environment of court employees
• The lack of security and concerns about the occupational health and safety of court employees
• Parity based on professionalism
• The need to ensure that the interim forum established in terms of the National Prosecuting Authority Act is effective and includes all relevant role players
• The need to give effect to NUPSA's agency shop agreement with government

The Department of Justice acknowledged and shared the concerns of Fedusa and reported on various steps already initiated to address these issues.

Based on the recommendation of Nedlac's management committee, the parties agreed that a special meeting of the departmental bargaining chamber would be convened in order to establish a representative task team to look into all the issues raised by Fedusa. The task team will prepare a status report which details a workplan and timeframes for each of the issues. The report is to be completed by the end of February and be submitted to the Nedlac management committee.

The meeting was chaired by Nedlac's Acting Executive Director, Wendy Dobson, who commented on the commitment of the parties to resolving the substantive issues, rather than approaching the meeting as a legalrequirement. "It was clear to Nedlac that there was agreement between the parties onthe issues that needed to be tackled. The problem was the lack of an effective mechanismf or information sharing,communication and consultation. Today's meetinghas established such a mechanism."

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