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Cape Town - The use of provincial and national demographics to determine whether a company is complying with the requirements for employment equity will probably be removed from proposed amendments to the labour legislation.
Instead, a company’s employment equity will probably now be judged according to the demographics of the region in which it does business, such as a district municipality.
On Tuesday Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant made this announcement at a news conference following her budget speech.
This could defuse one of the major contentious points in the proposed amendment to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
An uproar resulted when analysts interpreted the proposed amendment in such a way that national, rather than provincial, demographics would be used to judge companies’ employment equity.
Thus a company in the Western Cape, for example, would have had to employ mostly black South Africans, although coloured people comprise the largest population group in the province.
Jimmy Manyi, the former director-general of labour and now government spokesperson, inflamed the uproar by saying that there was an “over-concentration” of coloureds in the Western Cape.
In the recent municipal election this probably cost the ANC many votes in the Western Cape.
Oliphant said the public debate on the issue had been misleading.
The draft amendments to the Labour Relations Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the Employment Equity Act and the new Public Employment Services Bill were all published in the Government Gazette in December.
The aim of these amendments and the new act is to introduce, inter alia, stricter regulations against the exploitation of temporary workers, according to the Labour Department.
The proposed amendments were further mired in controversy when, in the department’s public hearings, it came to light that that it was government’s intention that all posts would in future be permanent, unless the employer could justify why temporary labour should be used.
These amendments were widely criticised in that they would seriously hamper job-creation and employment.
On Tuesday the ANC rejected the arguments during the debate on the Department of Labour’s budget vote.
At the press conference Oliphant declined to answer direct questions as to whether she still believed all posts in the country should be permanent in future. She did not wish to disclose what had happened after the public hearings.
In her budget speech she placed particular emphasis on the political concept of decent work.
From the budget debate it is clear that there is still heavy political pressure to abolish temporary jobs and labour-broking.
Buti Manamela, an ANC MP and national secretary of the SACP Youth League, stressed that permanent jobs alone would mean freedom for workers.
Opposition parties believe the ANC only wants to promote Cosatu’s interests in abolishing temporary work.
Oliphant said the legislation was still being discussed by Nedlac.
But she was concerned that Nedlac’s handling of the legislation was taking too long.
- Sake24
Instead, a company’s employment equity will probably now be judged according to the demographics of the region in which it does business, such as a district municipality.
On Tuesday Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant made this announcement at a news conference following her budget speech.
This could defuse one of the major contentious points in the proposed amendment to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
An uproar resulted when analysts interpreted the proposed amendment in such a way that national, rather than provincial, demographics would be used to judge companies’ employment equity.
Thus a company in the Western Cape, for example, would have had to employ mostly black South Africans, although coloured people comprise the largest population group in the province.
Jimmy Manyi, the former director-general of labour and now government spokesperson, inflamed the uproar by saying that there was an “over-concentration” of coloureds in the Western Cape.
In the recent municipal election this probably cost the ANC many votes in the Western Cape.
Oliphant said the public debate on the issue had been misleading.
The draft amendments to the Labour Relations Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the Employment Equity Act and the new Public Employment Services Bill were all published in the Government Gazette in December.
The aim of these amendments and the new act is to introduce, inter alia, stricter regulations against the exploitation of temporary workers, according to the Labour Department.
The proposed amendments were further mired in controversy when, in the department’s public hearings, it came to light that that it was government’s intention that all posts would in future be permanent, unless the employer could justify why temporary labour should be used.
These amendments were widely criticised in that they would seriously hamper job-creation and employment.
On Tuesday the ANC rejected the arguments during the debate on the Department of Labour’s budget vote.
At the press conference Oliphant declined to answer direct questions as to whether she still believed all posts in the country should be permanent in future. She did not wish to disclose what had happened after the public hearings.
In her budget speech she placed particular emphasis on the political concept of decent work.
From the budget debate it is clear that there is still heavy political pressure to abolish temporary jobs and labour-broking.
Buti Manamela, an ANC MP and national secretary of the SACP Youth League, stressed that permanent jobs alone would mean freedom for workers.
Opposition parties believe the ANC only wants to promote Cosatu’s interests in abolishing temporary work.
Oliphant said the legislation was still being discussed by Nedlac.
But she was concerned that Nedlac’s handling of the legislation was taking too long.
- Sake24
