The Department of Labour continues to be defined by good and progressive work which is manifesting itself in the form of awards for good financial management as well as critical interventions in the areas of job creation and job saving measures.
The department’s mandate directs it to work for:
- improved economic efficiency and productivity;
- employment creation;
- sound labour relations;
- eliminating inequality and discrimination in the workplace;
- alleviating poverty in employment;
- enhancing occupational health and safety awareness and compliance in the workplace;
Entities that report to the Minister also have continued to improve their financial standing with most of them receiving a clean bill of health from the auditor general. These include the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, Productivity SA, Nedlac and Unemployment Insurance.
We are aware of the challenges with the Compensation Fund but a turnaround strategy is in place to ensure that it plays its critical role.
These and other development inform this year’s Budget vote which details the department’s commitment to our vision and mission. This is evinced by the following:
Job creation
- 705 856 employees having accessed UIF benefits over the period ending March 2012. This alone totalled over more R5.6. billion. UIF has made interventions in training and job creation.
- Socially-relevant investments that have saved created 15,056 jobs and the saved 18, 637 jobs particularly in the textiles industry in the Western Cape, Gauteng and KZN
- Through our socially-relevant investments initiative, we budgeted an amount of R210 million for 2011/12 of which R19.46 million had been spent as at end December 2011.
- A further amount of R660 million has been budgeted for various training and re-integration schemes over the 2012/13 -2014/15 medium term expenditure period.
- On job saving initiatives, 18 companies and 4330 workers have been funded to the value of R31.11 million from the inception of the Training Lay-off Scheme up to 31 December 2011.R9.55 million spent on training allowances to participating employers and employees.
- Most of the assistance for this initiative went to the beleaguered textile industry, automotive parts manufacturers as well as hospitality business
- Such a recent initiative saved 793 jobs at SAPPI (Pty) Ltd . This served as an interim relief to boost the paper sector .
- 403 482 job seekers were registered, most of whom were captured in Gauteng (135 651), followed by KwaZulu/Natal (76 261) and the Western Cape (71,571).
- 139,428 job seekers assessed and profiled and 64,798 referred to employers or placed in vacancies .
- innovative changes to the benefit structure of the UIF are under consideration and a bill to this effect will be introduced in due course to Cabinet and brought to Parliament thereafter.
- As part of our commitment that we made over the past year and the period under review to increase workplace Inspections and Enforcement;
- 139, 150 workplaces throughout the country were inspected.
- 35,327 notices issued to non- complying companies in ensuring compliance with labour laws.
- 1023 prohibition notices were served on companies who violate labour laws
- Increased budget allocation for the inspectorate
- Transforming the Regulatory Framework
- Four bills:
- Labour Relations
- Basic Conditions of Employment Act
- Employment Equity Act
- Public Employment Services Bill
- Were brought before Parliament by the end of the 2011/2012 financial year; with a view to fundamentally alter unwarranted patterns in our labour market system.The LR Amendment Bill and the BCE Amendment Bill are now before Parliament for consideration.
- The two bills aim to enhance protection and prohibit abusive practices of temporary, part-time and fixed-term contracts workers. This affects 3.89 million workers representing 28 percent of those employed.
- Other measures will improve the legal framework, enhance the functioning of labour market institutions and deal with labour relations problems that have developed.
- Amendments to the Employment Equity Act and the new Employment Services Bill are currently being considered by NEDLAC and these should reach Parliament in the not too distant future.
Labour Relations
- The Department has also concluded reviews of six Sectoral Determinations, including those for the farm and domestic work sectors.
- An investigation into feasibility of retirement savings vehicle for vulnerable workers, especially farm and domestic workers has been initiated.
- NEDLAC is also dealing with Convention 189 which seeks to provide decent work for domestic workers. Once concluded, we will move with required speed to ratify this convention.
International Involvement
The department continues to play a vital role in international labour arena especially through the active involvement in the ILO, the various bilaterals with a number of countries including South Sudan, Swaziland and involvement with the G20 Ministers of Labour and Employment Task Team. This task team has deliberated extensively on various challenges and successes, approaches, programmes and schemes that could address unemployment especially youth unemployment. We have made a number of recommendations on youth unemployment and we are awaiting the G20 Heads of States to make a pronouncement in this regard during their June 2012 Summit under the Mexican Presidency.
Financial Management
The department is proud to have received a clean audit – the first in six years. It was also cited as the best national department in accounting by the South African Insitute of Government Auditors. Also, our Mpumalanga Provincial Office was awarded a second place in the Premier’s awards for excellent service delivery in the Batho Pele category.The award was for a Roving Safety Representative project. The department has also been placed second as one of the most efficient and effective in responding to complaints that have been referred to the Presidential Hotline.
To the future:
Some of the projects that are being investigated or will implemented include:
- DoL Organisational Review
- ICT Strategy
- Redefining Public Employment Services
- Redefining professionalisation: IES
A new initiative called the Virtual Office, allows employee to apply for UIF benefits online and connect the unemployed with their former employers and provide for
- declaration of earnings and employment histories;
- speedy claim processing
- Tracking of all claims through the issuing of unique reference numbers.
In the Compensation Fund, there are aims to increase revenue collection through web-based registration of employers, electronic submission of the Return of Earnings (ROE) and employer assessments – details of which will be announced in the next few days.
While the web-based submission of ROE’s would be implemented in the first quarter, electronic submission of medical accounts and provision of pharmaceuticals is targeted for the second quarter.
The CF has restructured and designed a new Organisational Structure which will be implemented in this financial year. This will also enable decentralisation of all Compensation Fund services to all Provinces.
The department hopes to report an even better report next year because of these initiatives that we have implemented.
Enquiry:
Musa Zondi
Cell: 082 901 8081
