Unless South African organisations elevate industrial relations as a key strategic imperative, the current adversarial industrial relations will continue to be a feature of labour market for years to come, cautioned Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) director Nerine Kahn.
Speaking at the presentation of the CCMA’s Annual Report 2012/2013 before the Portfolio Committee on Labour in Cape Town today, Kahn said many organisations have downgraded industrial relations with costly consequences.
“Socio-economic problems have seemingly also been left unattended. As a result this is forcing many trade unions to take up many socio-economic issues. This is an area of concern and we need to devise strategies to bring together all parties to work together,” Kahn said.
She said: “We are in the middle of negotiation season. And yet the current wage negotiation season has been marked by labour market discord and conflict”.
Kahn said the CCMA comes from a challenging year in the labour market and this calls for stronger CCMA going into the future.
In the 2009/2010 financial year the CCMA had 153 657 case load and this has ballooned to reach 168 434 in the 2012/2013 financial year.
Kahn said this may perhaps reflect a growing adversarial relationship in the labour market in South Africa. She also said another feature of the labour market was the growing case load from professionals which she described “as a success, that more people are trusting the system”, because when the CCMA was established its objective was to protect the vulnerable.
The CCMA in the year under review posted a clean unqualified audit.
