DA to seek legal opinion on LRA Amendment Act
18 August 2014
The DA will seek a legal opinion on the recent passing of the job-killing Labour Relations Amendment Act following its assent by President Jacob Zuma yesterday.
This follows a petition by the DA, based on section 79 of the Constitution, to have this legislation returned to Parliament for much needed reconsideration.
Given the negative consequences of this Bill, it is deeply disappointing that the President yielded to pressure from COSATU instead of standing on the side of the National Development Plan and job-creation.
The Act fails to reintroduce balloting before a strike as a means to democratise labour relations - reducing the high incidence of violent and protracted strikes and preventing union bosses from engaging in strike action at a whim and against the interests of workers.
A number of concerns relating to the Act are still in need of much discussion and resolution:
Section 69 will make picketing rules binding on third parties - allowing for pickets on said party's property. This may amount to an unreasonable deprivation of property, which is unconstitutional; and
Section 198 extends sectoral determination to temporary services employees, which will raise the cost of providing jobs to the unemployed.
Concerns remain as to whether sufficient time was made available for adequate consideration and public consultation within the NCOP, such as to allow for the NCOP to fully apply its mind to the Act and thus discharge its Constitutional duties.
In order to grow the economy and create a flexible labour regime that gives jobs to millions of South Africa's unemployed, the DA will continue to fight tirelessly for the introduction of the following reforms -
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.
We also continue to forge ahead with the introduction of the DA's Private Member's Bill aimed at preventing strike violence.
The DA will fight for the introduction of a labour regime that 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 18 2014
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