DA urges President Zuma to return LRA Bill to Parliament

08 August 2014

The DA strongly urges President Jacob Zuma to return the job-killing Labour Relations Act (LRA) Amendment Bill back to Parliament for much needed reconsideration.

Reports today indicate that the President is still seized with submissions on the Bill and has not yet decided whether he will sign it into law. The DA welcomes the fact that the President is considering our letter pointing out the flaws in the Bill. 

The President must not under-estimate the urgency of this matter. The lack of democratic processes in our labour relations framework was a very major cause for the tensions between the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), and the resulting violence which led to the Marikana Massacre. 

If we are to prevent this from repeating itself, then we must make necessary changes to this Bill as soon as possible. 

Indeed, in its current form, the Bill fails to provide for the democratisation of labour relations through secret balloting before a strike - thus allowing for a high incidence of violent and protracted strikes -  and firmly entrenches the existing labour relations framework in the interest of union bosses; even at the expense of workers and the unemployed. 

Should the Bill be sent back to Parliament the DA will fight tirelessly to introduce much needed reforms within South Africa's labour regime, particularly:  

Introducing amendments which would provide for the reintroduction of secret balloting before a strike;

Prevent majority unions and employers from agreeing on thresholds of representivity for unions to gain organisational rights in a specific workplace or sector. Amendments should seek to establish a universal minimum threshold of representivity above which organisational rights and participation in collective bargaining cannot be denied to a union; 

Ban closed-shop agreements and propose a model of proportional representation in labour bargaining, with firm minimum thresholds for participation to prevent the proliferation of labour representatives in a given bargaining unit.

Supporting collective bargaining agreements that only apply to entities and organisations that were party to the agreement; and

Supporting nuanced approaches to bargaining agreements that take the unique conditions, markets and products of businesses in different areas in the country into account. 

Over and above this, the DA will continue to forge ahead with the introduction of the DA's Private Member's Bill aimed at preventing strike violence. 

The Bill's return would be a much welcomed step in the right direction for all South Africans who wish to see a labour regime that protects the rights of workers, affirms investor confidence, helps preserve existing jobs and creates new ones for the unemployed. 

Statement issued by Ian Ollis MP, DA Shadow Minister of Labour, August 9 2014

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