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Cape Town - The National Assembly passed the basic conditions of employment amendment bill on Thursday, but after heated debate, lacked the quorum to vote on the accompanying labour relations amendment bill.
Debate on the bills was dominated by the issues of labour broking and strike balloting, with the opposition objecting strongly to recent changes it sees as concessions to the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu).
Democratic Alliance labour spokesperson Sej Motau requested an urgent debate on amendments proposed by the party to belated changes which exclude a requirement for strike balloting and limit to three months the period for which temporary work may be arranged by labour brokers.
Motau said the fact that discussion of his party's proposals was refused showed that the ANC was "stampeding" the bill through the legislature and selling out the job-growth objectives of the National Development Plan.
Strike balloting would have gone a long way towards achieving labour stability, notably in the mining sector, because violence and intimidation were more likely when strikes had only minority support, he argued.
"The ANC disagrees, they believe business as usual in the labour relations environment is the way to be, a position informed by their alliance with a roleplayer which has a vested interest in things remaining as they are - Cosatu.
"This is the strongest indication yet that the ANC is willing to pander to its alliance partner, labour federation Cosatu, ahead of next year's election, even it means voting in favour of legislation that perpetuates violence, intimidation and non-democratic values."
Motau accused the ANC of making a mockery of public hearings and the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) process by introducing these changes to the bill before it was adopted by the labour portfolio committee on Tuesday.
Compulsory strike balloting was agreed at Nedlac and backed by the department of labour, but Cosatu has argued that unions should have the right how to consult workers before calling a strike.
Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant and committee chairperson Mamagase Nchabeleng said the final version of the bill was a fair compromise.
Oliphant noted that it stopped short of banning the practice, but prevented it from turning workers into "permanent temporal employees".
Nchabaleng angrily rejected Motau's claim that it risked putting more than 800 000 people out of work, and said the ruling party could not be "blackmailed" by job statistics every time it sought to protect vulnerable workers.
Oliphant said labour unrest in the mining sector should not be blamed on the law, but on the conduct of mining houses.
"It is because the companies themselves have negotiated with committees not recognised by the laws of this country," she said in her closing remarks to the debate.
Oliphant also rejected opposition claims - voiced in the debate on the basic conditions of employment amendment bill - that the law changes would bring further rigidity to the labour market.
"I want to confirm that the labour laws of this country are flexible," she said.
The basic conditions of employment amendment bill seeks to outlaw unfair labour practices, raise the minimum employable age to 15 and give the minister the power to set minimum wages as well as minimum increases for certain sectors.
It also enables the minister to prohibit the use of sub-contracting when making a sectoral determination, which critics say could have a profound influence on certain industries, such as the building sector.
DA MP AP van der Westhuizen said the new legislation would result in a vastly over-regulated labour market, and would increase the cost of hiring.
He called into question the objectivity of ministerial sectoral determination, and said it appeared that labour protest action "stoked from outside" had swayed the minister on farm workers' wages.
"We have a national crisis in terms of unemployment.... We cannot afford more joblessness and we will oppose this bill."
Oliphant countered that the bill made plenty of provision for "justifiable exemptions" in short-term and special work situations while shielding workers from abuse.
"We will not rest until the vulnerable workers are protected and they are paid equally for the same work," she said.
