Theme: Advancing our Collective Efforts to Promote Social and Economic Equalities in our Society
Honourable Chair/Deputy Chair
Programme Director
Honourable members of the NCOP
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is appropriate that we should be debating the promotion of social and economic equalities as we approach May Day which really is a day of solidarity among workers and a day on which trade unions around the world celebrate their achievements.
In our beloved country, May Day celebrations come hot on the heels of Freedom Day. Clearly, the two days complement each other and I don’t think anyone can contradict us when we boldly state that the achievement of our freedom was to a large part predicated on the involvement of trade unions in not only shaping our new labour dispensation but also of recognizing that workers’ rights are human rights. Workers were part of the collective that congregated in Kliptown to define what has now become a blueprint of the life of our young nation. These freedom-loving citizens set about charting the way forward and they produced the Freedom Charter – a document that is just as relevant today as it was then.
As the Government and as the Department of Labour (DoL) in particular, we understand the exhortations by our forebears to mean that no one should be left behind. It means that where possible, the state should make it its business to correct the imbalances of the past and to bring everyone into a social net whereby no one is left to starve.
Our forebears said:
- All who work shall be free to form trade unions, to elect their officers and to make wage agreements with their employers
- The state shall recognise the right and duty of all to work, and to draw full unemployment benefits
- Men and women of all races shall receive equal pay for equal work
- There shall be a forty-hour working week, a national minimum wage, paid annual leave, and sick leave for all workers, and maternity leave on full pay for all working mothers
- Miners, domestic workers, farm workers and civil servants shall have the same rights as all others who work
- Child labour, compound labour, the tot system and contract labour shall be abolished.
That is why honourable members, the democratic government moved swiftly not only to put into practice these exhortations, but we continue to refine the system to ensure that we are true to our promise of giving a better life to all. As you are aware, DoL has submitted a number of amendments to the founding legislations: namely the Basic Conditions of Employment and Labour Relations Act.
This is also in line with our election promise in 2009, when we said:
In order to avoid exploitation of workers and ensure decent work for all workers as well as to protect the employment relationship,(we will) introduce laws to regulate contract work, subcontracting and outsourcing, address the problem of labour broking and prohibit certain abusive practices. Provisions will be introduced to facilitate unionisation of workers and conclusion of sectoral collective agreements to cover vulnerable workers in these different legal relationships and ensure the right to permanent employment for affected workers. Procurement policies and public incentives will include requirements to promote decent work.
The thread that runs through the Freedom Charter and our election manifesto finds particular resonance with our Constitution that upholds the values of human dignity, equality, freedom and social justice in a united, non-racial and non-sexist society where every South African may flourish. Section 9 of the Constitution provides for the enactment of national legislation to prevent or prohibit unfair discrimination and to promote the achievement of equality.
The amendments especially when they deal with issues of contract work and temporal employment services (labour broking) seek to do away with abuses in relation to:
- Labour brokers rolling over contracts of employees thereby making workers permanent temporary employees
- Workers employed by a TES earning less than their counterparts employed by clients doing the same job
- Workers employed by a TES are often unable to take up their dismissal cases with the CCMA/Labour Court and not able to enforce decisions (unclear who the employer is)
- Workers employed by A TES often do not have access to social benefits (e.g. retirement funds)
Surely, it cannot be correct that some people work for food retailers for ten years and retire with nothing to show for their sweat or the fact that they have no medical aid or other critical benefits.
It was also with the due regard to the Freedom Charter and our Constitution, when we passed the Employment Equity Act of 1998. This marked a turning point in our history as the first equality legislation that sought to contribute to the restoration of human dignity and human rights deprived to the majority of South Africans by:
- Promoting equal opportunities and fair treatment in employment through the elimination of unfair discrimination; and
- Implementing affirmative action measures to redress the disadvantages in employment experienced by designated groups (i.e. Black people, women and people with disabilities) in the workplace.
Employment equity is therefore, not only a moral and human rights imperative; it is a pre-condition for the achievement of sustainable development, economic growth and equality in the country, which should be supported by decent work initiatives. Pro-active measures are required by organisations to develop and harness an inclusive and diverse workforce that is free from unfair discrimination and is reasonably demographically representative.
However, 19 after democracy and 15 years into the implementation of Employment Equity Act, this is still not the case honourable members. It is very clear from the Employment equity data presented in the 13th Commission for Employment Equity Annual report released last week that White people and males in particular continue to be dominating positions in the Top and Senior management levels of organisations in this country. Figures show that Whites occupy 72% of all positions at Top management level. White males in particular account for 80% of top jobs.
At senior management level, Whites and males account for 62% and 69% of all positions respectively. This is made worse by the fact that this group is also more likely to be recruited and promoted when compared to any other group. Progress on the employment of women, in particular black women and people with disabilities still remains dismal compared to the other designated groups at the strategic decision-making levels of power.
It is worth mentioning though that there are positive signs at levels of Professionally Qualified/ Middle and Skilled Technical/ Junior management where equitable representation is likely to take place in terms of black people and women if current trends continue.
Honourable members, it is important that as we reflect on this data contained in the Commission’s report we bear in mind the fact that this information has been consulted upon with employees, verified, approved and signed off by Chief Executive Officers of companies and Directors-General of Government Departments before submission to the Department of Labour for analysis by the Commission. That fact exposes the untruth made recently by some parties in the media who wanted to question the integrity of the data. To even question the data which is uploaded by 90% of companies themselves through the On-line Employment Equity Reporting is even more ludicrous. It gives new meaning to clutching at straws.
It is therefore, critical to highlight that although at the inception of the Employment Equity Act we foresaw, or at least expected, some resistance from the private sector, but resistance to employment equity was not expected from any level of government. However, figures from reports received show that amongst all nine provinces, the Western Cape Province is the worst performing when compared to all other provinces in terms of race and gender at nearly every occupational level. Data also shows that the Western Cape is also amongst the worst performing province in relation to Black women when taking into account their provincial Economically Active Population (EAP) demographics both in the public and private sectors.
The number of reports received from the Western Cape, both from the public and private sectors, amounted to 4629, which is approximately 21% of 22012 reports analysed from all employers in the country. Government accounted for 28 reports and the private sector accounted for 4601 reports that were analysed from the Western Cape. The Economically Active Population (EAP) in the Western Cape comprises of coloureds at 51%, Africans at 33.9%, whites at 14.8% and Indians 0.3%.
Therefore, one would have expected that these demographics will start showing throughout the representation of various groups across each occupational level, however, this is not the case. At the top management level in the Western Cape, Africans accounted for only 3.2% (i.e. Africa male 2.5% and African female 0.7%), coloureds accounted for 11.8% (i.e. coloured males 8.0% and coloured females 3.8%), Indians accounted for 3.1% (Indian male 2.2% and Indian female 0.9%), whereas, Whites accounted for 79.5% (i.e. white male 65.5% and white female14.0%) of all positions at this level. The same trend is reflected at the senior management level.
At the professionally qualified level in the Western Cape, Africans accounted for 12.8% (i.e. African male 6.9% and African female 5.9%), coloureds accounted for 28.1 (i.e. coloured males14.4% and coloured females 13.7%), Indians accounted for 4.7% (Indian male 2.7% and Indian female 2.0%) and whites accounted for 52.3% (i.e. white male 28.4% and white female 23.9%). Therefore, at the professionally qualified level, Whites are dominant in seven of the nine provinces with the exception of Limpopo and Eastern Cape. However, the representation of whites is more than double their EAP in most of the provinces. The best performing province in terms of gender equity appears to be the Eastern Cape when taking the EAP of the various groups into account.
Analyses of the skilled level show that representation in terms of race and gender has been relatively reasonable in proportion to representation of the various groups in all provinces. White people with disabilities dominate representation of all disabled people in the Western Cape by a large margin at the top management, senior management and professionally qualified levels, especially when one considers their EAP in the province.
In summary, a few interesting observations can be made from the analyses of the provincial breakdown of race and gender focusing on the upper-most levels, i.e. top management and senior management, where the decisions are made and the resources managed.
If you are a black African, you stand a better chance of being in top management in Limpopo where this designated group constitutes 19.4% of top management. The highest percentage representation of females in top management is in the Free State at 9.1%.
Indian males and females are in the lead in KwaZulu-Natal with respect to top management representation; where they constitute 16% and 4.5% respectively. Eastern Cape can be very proud of the fact that black people and coloureds in particular are very well represented at the “senior management” levels. In the Eastern Cape, coloured males constitute 5.8% of senior management; whilst coloured females constitute 2.7%.
Nineteen years into our democracy, the effects of apartheid are still there for all to see. It is not yet noon and some among us are already talking of the sunset clause. The public sector has managed to transform, unlike some in the private sector who seem still flounder at implementing employment equity. For many employers, it is ‘business as usual’.
There is an urgent need for collaboration with all stakeholders to address the issues of transformation in our country. The EE roadshows conducted by DoL on an annual basis provide a platform for employers to raise any concerns, or areas of compliance they may need assistance with.
Furthermore, the slow pace of transformation is one of the reasons why we have introduced amendments to the EEA. We believe that the amendments will not only fast track transformation but will also enable us to achieve our constitutional mandate by:
- Clearly defining who are the beneficiaries of affirmative action
- Eliminating unfair discrimination in terms of pay equity on the basis of race, gender & disability. ‘Equal pay for work of equal value’
- Providing better dispute resolution mechanisms by facilitating access to the CCMA and Labour Court for arbitration on unfair discrimination
- Strengthening compliance mechanisms in the Act, including shortening the process of enforcing compliance for Labour Inspectors for non-compliance.
Best practice organizations value people and cultivate an environment where cultural awareness, sensitivity, fairness and integrity prosper. All employees believe that they can progress if they are qualified, motivated and work hard. This will mean that human and financial resources must be devoted to a program that includes a formal process, which is dedicated to the management of employment equity and diversity.
Honourable members let me take this opportunity to call upon all stakeholders to support the amendments to the Act because the more we resist - the more people will persist calling for change and transformation not only in our labour market, but in the society as a whole.
I urge members of this august house as well to pass the Domestic Worker Convention (No. 189). This convention will, among other things extend coverage for Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases to domestic workers and enhance their general protection.
Honourable members
It goes without saying that each one of us needs to be alive to the needs of our domestic workers. I urge those who have not registered them with Unemployment Insurance Fund to do so. Again we are proposing changes to the UI Act so that we can improve benefits for beneficiaries as well as bring domestic workers into the maternity benefit framework enjoyed by most workers in this country. Proposed changes to COID will also mean that farmworkers are now covered.
If we accept that domestic workers play a crucial role in running our households, it follows that we need to value their contribution and the least we could do is to give them the necessary protection.
Domestic workers, like farmworkers are some of the most vulnerable workers and it is in the spirit of the Freedom Charter and the Constitution that we need to ensure that they are protected. In this regard, Government has also used sectoral determinations as a mechanism to establish minimum wages and conditions for workers in sectors where there are few trade unions and low levels of representation of workers interests.
The process of establishing minimum wages through sectoral determinations includes public hearings and, in certain sectors, receiving inputs from collective bargaining forums that have been established by employer organisations and trade unions. Sectoral determinations and the process through which they are arrived at promote greater equality by lifting the wages of the most vulnerable in the labour market.
At the end of the day, our overriding objective must be to reduce inequalities. Collective bargaining is a critical mechanism for achieving this. It is our belief that constructive negotiation between workers and their unions and employers and their associations is the best way of steering a path between regulation by the state on the one hand and, on the other hand, relying simply on market forces. There are some who will continue to advocate the unchecked free market system as the way of determining the most appropriate conditions of employment for South African workers, including the level of wages and the extent of wage differentials.
This is an extreme that runs contrary to the policies of the present government and it shows little sensitivity to the history of labour relations in South Africa and the rights that have been won by trade unions through many years of struggle under the Apartheid dispensation.
More recently, we have seen another extreme consisting of unorganized workers expecting to gain increases to wages through unprocedural strikes and protest action. Such action runs contrary to the policy framework for labour relations in this country.
It is not a sustainable form of engagement and will most likely have negative consequences for workers and their security of employment. At times like this, organized labour and organized business have to step up to support systems of orderly collective bargaining. They also have to assist government to combat violence in public protests and industrial action.
As we prepare to celebrate May Day, let us reaffirm our support for trade unions in South Africa and internationally. They play an important role in society and in contributing to the fight of achieving greater social and economic equality.
Thank you!!!
