Luphert Chilwane

The government’s newly proposed labour laws will be watered down after business and other stakeholders challenged the draft bills.

On Tuesday, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant confirmed changes in the draft, three weeks after The New Age reported that the four bills initiated when government spokesperson Jimmy Manyi was director-general at the department, had been rejected as badly drafted and a threat to business and investors.

She told reporters in Pretoria that a task team at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac), engaged on the four bills, has decided to discuss changes under a number of themes in order to broaden the scope of the amendments.

“The themes include, among others, atypical work, dispute resolution, compliance and enforcement, access to employment, equality and collective bargaining,” she said. “I am sure that we all want certainly about the new legal framework as soon as possible and time is, therefore, of the essence. But while speed in finalising the process is important, we would want a final product that enjoys the support of organised business and labour.”

The proposed amendments are contained in the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill, Employment Equity Bill, Labour Relations Bill and the Employment Services Bill and were published in December last year for public comments.

For example, the Labour Relations Bill keeps check on temporary employment by adding a new section 200B, which provides that an employee must be employed permanently unless the employer can justify employment on a fixed-term contract. According to stakeholders this constituted a presumption of indefinite employment and needed to be re-drafted.

The New Age reports emanated from the Labour Legislation Amendment Seminar, organised to examine the impact of the bills by both business and labour which found that in their current form, the proposed laws are a threat to employment, job creation and economic growth and would adversely affect business.

Manyi had gone on public platforms to urge the cabinet and legislators to pass the bills, while he was suspended as Labour’s director-general.

Asked about the overall impact of the changes and whether the draft would read differently from the one drafted by government, Jonathan Goldberg, a labour lawyer and a representative of Business Unity South Africa, said the atypical and the dispute resolution theme were still under discussion.

About the minister’s statement that employment agencies would need to specify their reasons when wanting to employ temporary workers, Goldberg said that had not been finalised in the Nedlac negotiations and was still subject to negotiation and discussions. “I think there is recognition from all parties that any amendments we make to any legislation must create a climate for employment. If the parties fail to achieve that objective, we all fail,” said Goldberg.

A new draft from Nedlac is expected by November, to be tabled in parliament in the first quarter of next year.