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Labour bills to curb illegal strikes

Johannesburg - High levels of illegal strikes in South Africa will be addressed through amendments to labour law, the department of labour said on Wednesday.

Chief director of collective bargaining Thembinkosi Mkalipi said that unions would need to conduct ballots to ensure that the majority of members agreed on the need to strike.

It was understood that unlawful acts, such as damage to property and violence, in support of industrial action often occurred where only a minority supported the cause for the strike.

Unions would also have to abide by picketing rules or lose protection for their strike.

If the employer contravened the picketing agreement, it would lose the right to employ temporary or “scab” labour while the strike lasted.

To address illegal strikes in essential services, the bill provided for an essential services committee to determine which services qualified as essential.

The committee would be responsible for the negotiation of minimum service level agreements.

“Our colleagues in labour want everyone to go on strike, but business want nobody to go on strike,” Mkalipi said.

The essential services committee would aim to strike a balance between the needs of labour and employers.

Greater powers would be afforded to the minister of labour when the bill was passed into law.

The minister would determine the threshold level of representation of a union to improve workers’ access to union protection within sectors where this need was not fully realised.

The minister would also be empowered to set wage increases, as opposed to minimum wages, for vulnerable workers within certain sectors.

The amended legislation would increase the efficiency of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration by expanding its functions to ensure it better served workers, Mkalipi said.

The amendments would also protect workers by tightening up the law around labour broking, he said.
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