General activities

Protest action to promote or defend the socio-economic interests of workers

Section 77 of the LRA provides for protest action to promote or defend thesocio-economic interests of workers. Section 77(1) of the Act states that:

"Every employee who is not engaged in an essential service or a maintenanceservice has the right to take part in protest action if-

"(a) the protest action has been called by a registered trade union or federation of trade unions;

"(b) the registered trade union or federation of trade unions has served notice on Nedlac stating-

"(i) the reasons for the protest action; and

"(ii)the nature of the protest action;

"(c) the matter giving rise to the intended protest action has been considered by Nedlac or any other appropriate forum in which the parties concerned are able to participate in order to resolve the matter; and

"(d) at least 14 days before the commencement of the protest, the registered trade union or federation of trade unions has served a notice on Nedlac of its intention to proceed with the protest action."

If the Act is complied with, workers participating in the protest action are protectedagainst disciplinary action.

Nedlac had been served with three notices of protest action up to the end of April 1997by the following organisations:

• The Western Cape region of the Food and Allied Workers' Union, in protest against actions taken by the fisheries quota board. A meeting between the union and the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism was arranged.
• Cosatu, in support of labour's demands in respect of employment standards. The matter has been on the agenda of the Labour Market Chamber since mid-1996.
• National Union for Security Officers and Guards. The issue in dispute was considered by the Management Committee to be a collective bargaining matter and as a result it did not fall into the definition of socio-economic protest action as contemplated by section 77 of the Act.

An interim procedure for dealing with such notices has been agreed. Nedlac has alsosought legal opinion on the requirements of section 77 of the Act to clarify the meaningof this section.

On 9 May 1997, the Labour Appeal Court considered an application by BSA against Cosatu(in which Nedlac was cited as the second respondent). In a majority judgement, the courtheld that section 77(1)(c) had not been complied with and granted BSA's application withcosts.

Links with other participative structures

In the past year, Nedlac facilitated the participation of its constituencies in variousinitiatives. Some examples are:

• The nomination of members to serve on the National Defence Council for a Secure South Africa. The council is a statutory body that will be appointed by the President.
• The participation of labour and community representatives in the Statistics Council's theme committees on trade and employment statistics.
• Agreeing to a request by the University of the Witwatersrand that the Universities' Private Act be amended to require that Nedlac nominate four members from business and labour to the university's board.
• In 1996 Nedlac nominated persons to serve on the following restructured tripartite boards:
  • UIF board.
  • Compensation Board.
  • Wage Board.
  • National Training Board.

Nedlac also nominated persons to serve on the new institutions created by the LRA:

• The labour courts.
• The governing body of the CCMA.
• The essential services committee.
• The Rules Board for labour courts.

Nedlac's Trade and Industry Chamber nominated persons to serve on the boards ofInvestment South Africa and the Competitiveness Fund.

Contacts, meetings and trips

During the past year, Nedlac has been visited by numerous local and foreign visitors.

On the international side, Nedlac delegations have received senior representatives fromthe World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the ILO, the WTO, the United NationsDevelopment Programme and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Meetings have also been held with investor groups from Germany, South Korea, Japan,Britain, the United States and the Netherlands.

Nedlac has also received visiting trade unionists from countries around the globe,including India, Australia, Brazil, Norway, Belgium, South Korea, Zimbabwe, Zambia,Swaziland and Mauritius.

Various meetings with representatives from foreign embassies in South Africa, as wellas with South African diplomats abroad, have occurred.

Locally, Nedlac relates to a very wide range of institutions whose work impacts on theissues under consideration and processes being undertaken by Nedlac.

International meeting of social and economic councils and similar organisations

A four-person Nedlac delegation, comprising the Executive Director and the overallconvenors of business, labour and government, attended the recent biannual meeting ofsocial and economic councils and similar organisations, which took place on 7 and 8 March1997 in Caracas, Venezuela. The meeting was hosted by the Venezuela Social and EconomicCouncil, and was the fifth international meeting of its kind since 1989.

The major focus of the meeting was the transmission of knowledge, which focused onhuman resource development in a changing world environment, and discussion on theestablishment of a formal international organisation of economic and social councils andrelated institutions. A follow-up committee was established to prepare the foundingdocuments for such an organisation. South Africa was invited to participate in thefollow-up committee.

Countries participating in the meeting were: Algeria, Argentina, Belgium, Benin,Burkina Faso, Brazil, Cameroon, China, Curazao, the EU, France, Gabon, Hungary, IvoryCoast, Mauritius, Italy, Jamaica, Luxemburg, Macau, Mali, Morocco, the Netherlands,Portugal, Romania, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Slovak Republic, Spain, Switzerland,Tunisia, Venezuela and Egypt.

The Caracas meeting adopted the following declaration:

Desirous of supporting, worldwide, the development of a democratic dialogue between theprincipal economic and social parties of our respective societies;

Convinced of the importance of true cooperation between our councils;

The Economic and Social Councils and Related Institutions meeting in Caracas, at theinvitation of the Economic Council of Venezuela from 7-8 March 1997 for their fifithinternational consultation, unanimously decided to create, as soon as possible, aninternational organisation of economic and social councils and related institutions,invested with the legal rights of a juristic person.

The councils entrust an enlarged follow-up committee with the task of recording-forEurope: in the Netherlands and Spain; for Africa: in Algeria, Senegal, Gabon and SouthAfrica; for Latin America: at the Mercosur Economic and Social Forum; and for Asia: inMacau-the agreement of all parties concerning the statutes that would be acceptable to thenational judicial powers and that would respect the indispensable rule of consensus whichhas always presided at our international consultations.

The permanent secretary of the follow-up committee will keep all the signatories of thepresent declaration informed of the outcome of its work.

The presidents of the economic and social councils, on their part, unanimously adoptedthe candidature of Mauritius for the sixth consultation in 1999.

Study visits

Over the past year, a number of study trips to other countries were undertaken.

• A delegation visited Germany in 1996 to investigate the institutions and legislation affecting small businesses.
• In November 1996 a delegation visited the National Policy Association in Washington DC to explore possible future cooperation.
• In March 1997, two study trips were undertaken. A delegation visited Australia to look at the system of super annuating (pensions) funds in Australia. A large delegation of 20 persons, representing all four Nedlac constituencies, visited Germany to study the German system of vocational training, and particularly the financing of the system.

Briefings, workshops and presentations

Several briefings, presentations and workshops were held during the year under review:

Presentations and briefings included:

• Various government green and white papers.
• The recommendations of the Labour Market Commission.
• The restructuring of the customs and excise service.
• The Maputo development corridor by the Minister of Transport.
• The Budget process by the Deputy Minister of Finance.
• A briefing to the Nedlac Executive Council on monetary policy by the Governor of the South African Reserve Bank.
• A presentation by the South African Law Commission on aspects of the law relating to HIV and Aids.
• Briefings to the Labour Market Chamber on the functioning of the CCMA.
• Presentations on completed cluster studies.

Workshops and special focus sessions were held on:

• Housing.
• Job creation.
• Service tariffs.
• Local economic development.
• The depreciation of the rand.
• Monetary policy.
• The Masakhane campaign.

In addition, the Nedlac secretariat is frequently requested to give presentations andbriefings. Members of the secretariat have made numerous presentations to manyorganisations. Universities and other institutions of learning have also invited membersof the secretariat to run sessions on Nedlac and its activities, including the Universityof the Witwatersrand, the University of Port Elizabeth, the school of governance at theUniversity of Fort Hare, the training institute of the Department of Foreign Affairs, theSouth African Defence College and trade union colleges.