MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING

Nedlac's Management Committee, the 20-member body that oversees and co-ordinates the work of the Council, received reports today on a number of issues the Council's structures have been addressing, including the outstanding issues on Cosatu's Section 77 notice on job losses, and the implementation of the Presidential Jobs Summit agreements.

Following the last meeting of the Executive Council on 19 June, where parties agreed on the issues of national priority that need to be addressed, the Management Committee agreed on a series of meetings that will take place over the next two months, culminating in Nedlac's Annual Summit, which has been scheduled for 9 September.

The Department of Labour gave an updated report on the implementation of the Presidential Jobs Summit agreements. Government indicated that it was planning to undertake extensive report-backs to the public during the month of October on the progress that had been made in implementing jobs summit agreements. Business and labour agreed that this report-back should also include reports on the progress made by the Business Trust and labour's job creation trust.

On the outstanding issues with regards to Cosatu's Section 77 notice, the meeting noted that there had been progress in setting up bilateral meetings between Cosatu and government on the issues of tariffs and the National Framework Agreement. No firm dates had, however, been set for these meetings.

The Management Committee noted the Section 77 meeting that had been held with Cosatu in the Western Cape and the Western Cape Provincial Administration on the issue of the violence in the transport industry, and that a further meeting would be held this Thursday.

The issue of fuel price increases was placed on the agenda by Fedusa. It was agreed that the Department of Minerals and Energy would be requested to supply information on the movement of fuel prices since the adoption of the fuel price mechanism in 1994, and that constituencies would then decide on whether they felt a review of this mechanism was necessary.