MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING
Nedlac's Management Committee, the 20-member body that oversees
and co-ordinates the work programme of the Council, today agreed on
a process to deal with the proposed amendments to the labour
legislation that were tabled at last week's Labour Market Chamber.
The parties agreed to hold bilateral discussions where necessary to
address specific issues of concern prior to the negotiations which
are scheduled to commence on 17 August in the Labour Market
Chamber. Although there was an agreement that the Management
Committee would confine itself to discussing how to manage the
negotiations process, labour and business did take the opportunity
to raise some concerns with the substance of the proposed
amendments.
Last week the Minister of Labour published proposed amendments
to the Labour Relations Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act
and the Insolvency Act. According to the Nedlac Act, these must now
be considered in the Council prior to their being introduced in
Parliament.
The Management Committee also received updates and reports on
other issues, such as negotiations on the Pension Fund Surplus,
discussions on the International Migration White Paper and the code
of good practice on HIV/AIDS and employment. On the issue of the
Unemployment Insurance Fund negotiations, which had slowed as a
result of an actuarial assessment that was awaited from the ILO,
government indicated that it wanted to re-commence negotiations as
soon as possible, and would seek ways to speed up the delivery of
the ILO report.
On trade issues, parties noted that there would be a policy
session with the Minister of Trade and Industry, Alec Erwin, on 16
August. Discussions there would include the level of involvement of
the Nedlac parties in trade negotiations.
The next high-level meeting to discuss issues of national
priority will take place at Executive Council level on the 18th
August. This will feed into the Nedlac summit, scheduled for the
9th September. The Management Committee agreed that the theme for
the summit would be: Social dialogue and partnership for job
creation, investment and people-centered development.