Is the Labour Relations Act balanced and sustainable?

[Dave A]

Kevin Davie gives an interesting analysis here.

We are in the strange situation of having shed more than one million jobs but the people with jobs have been winning inflationbusting wage increases. There was a herd of elephants in the convention centre in Durban where the ANC held its national general council. Did anyone notice?

The ruling party produced a 38-page report, of which two pages are devoted to economic transformation.

The word "jobs" is mentioned twice. That is one less than the three mentions -- "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs" -- it got on the 1994 election posters. Overall, the two pages reflect a holding pattern, a kicking for touch on key issues.

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

Interesting to see some more activity on this thread. Over the pst 3 days I have been contemplating submitting a paper to the SA Law Reform Commision with the LRA and it's shortcomings as the topic.

In the interest of fair disclosure, it is a essay competition on critical law studies but they do take heed of submissions, presuming they make sense of course.

Perhaps if folks can post actual points or issues, it would make good research based on real business and not merely political stances. One of my pressing issues is to erradicate or minimize frivolous referrals and also to make unions more accountable for members behaviour when striking and where unions are making CCMA referrals.
Any points welcome. As i go along I will post my findings or views for comment and feedback and hopefully I can present a paper based on the real worlds feelings and realities.

[Dave A]

The Kumba strike illustrates a point, perhaps.

Here we have a union going on strike where the gap between the employer and employee seems to be quite narrow. According to the report:

The NUM is demanding pay rises of between 7,5% and 10% on a one-year deal, depending on workers' category, for its members at Kumba.

Kumba, the 10th-largest global iron ore producer, had offered wage increases of between 7% and 9,5% on a two-year deal.

When we look at the economic consequences of strike action, (most recent example being the motor industry), and the effect it has on (ultimately) future employment prospects, you would hope that resorting to strike action would be a last resort on matters of serious consequence, not pretty much a standard step in "negotiations".

[Dave A]

One of my pressing issues is to erradicate or minimize frivolous referrals...

Interesting problem - not least because the scale of the problem is probably going to be hard to prove. Lots of businesses settle at mediation on frivilous referrals just to save the time and hassle of running through the full process.