Amendments to labour laws up for discussion

The introduction of a national minimum wage policy and proposed amendments to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the Labour Relations Act will have a significant effect on the country’s collective bargaining system, experts say. As the Department of Labour begins its briefing sessions on the pieces of legislation with trade unions on Thursday, ahead of even broader stakeholder consultations, experts have remarked that the new pieces of legislation, which include stricter regulation of strikes, could either strengthen or weaken collective bargaining. Employers, trade unions and labour analysts have been critical of the system over the years, claiming it failed to deal with labour market instability, especially in relation to disputed wage agreements and deadly or prolonged strikes as a result of salary disputes. On the national minimum wage, Professor Imraan Valodia of Wits University, who chaired an advisory panel on the policy recently, said the wage dealt with one of the c...

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