BUSINESS needs to take the lead to resolve labour strife by continuing social dialogue with workers and seeking collective solutions to unemployment‚ the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO’s) director in South Africa, Vic van Vuuren, says.
South Africa’s economy is buffeted regularly by work stoppages and violence. Also, industrial action is often viewed as seasonal.
The ILO recommends proactive policy intervention to lift productivity and to reduce conflict.
On Wednesday, Van Vuuren said the deadlocks in the continuing strikes were not worse than expected‚ as strikes and high demands had become a regular “silly season” in South Africa.
“It is the same historical way of dealing with conditions of employment. There has got to be a process where there is engagement on a continual basis‚ else we will have one fight after the next.”
Though more internships for matriculants and apprenticeships would provide solutions‚ Van Vuuren said the model of businesses putting certain amounts into their own social responsible investment funds would be more beneficial if money was collectively placed by businesses into broader initiatives.
Van Vuuren said CEO salaries in South Africa may not be as high as elsewhere in the world‚ but the country’s wage gap continued to entrench negative perceptions.
“Business must come to the party and put something on the table to change perceptions‚” he said.
A director at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright‚ Hermann Nieuwoudt, said a social pact between labour‚ the government and employment had not happened‚ warning that “we are now in a situation where you are getting a breakdown‚ which is close to anarchy if the courts are not obeyed”.
“We need to revisit that and agree on a new‚ or modern, version of this social pact. If we don’t‚ then utter lawlessness will take place from time to time‚” Nieuwoudt said. — BDLive
Business must take to fore
South Africa’s economy is buffeted regularly by work stoppages and violence. Also, industrial action is often viewed as seasonal.
The ILO recommends proactive policy intervention to lift productivity and to reduce conflict.
On Wednesday, Van Vuuren said the deadlocks in the continuing strikes were not worse than expected‚ as strikes and high demands had become a regular “silly season” in South Africa.
“It is the same historical way of dealing with conditions of employment. There has got to be a process where there is engagement on a continual basis‚ else we will have one fight after the next.”
Though more internships for matriculants and apprenticeships would provide solutions‚ Van Vuuren said the model of businesses putting certain amounts into their own social responsible investment funds would be more beneficial if money was collectively placed by businesses into broader initiatives.
Van Vuuren said CEO salaries in South Africa may not be as high as elsewhere in the world‚ but the country’s wage gap continued to entrench negative perceptions.
“Business must come to the party and put something on the table to change perceptions‚” he said.
A director at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright‚ Hermann Nieuwoudt, said a social pact between labour‚ the government and employment had not happened‚ warning that “we are now in a situation where you are getting a breakdown‚ which is close to anarchy if the courts are not obeyed”.
“We need to revisit that and agree on a new‚ or modern, version of this social pact. If we don’t‚ then utter lawlessness will take place from time to time‚” Nieuwoudt said. — BDLive
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