29 Feb Communication and labour stability crucial to meeting sa economic objectives
29 February 2012: Establishing open communication and labour stability among SA industries is crucial to South Africa’s ability to meet the economic objectives set out by the National Planning Committee’s (NPC) vision for 2030.
This is according to Chris Jacobs, Director at OIM International, who says the South African economy cannot afford costs such as those incurred recently by Implats and Exarro as a result of widespread industrial action and striking. He urges businesses to establish open communication channels to foster productive relationships and enable grievances to be dealt with immediately. He says this is particularly important in the current challenging economic environment.
“In times like these, we invariably see an increase in strike action. However, these strikes result in irrevocable damage to the economy and individual workers. While it is the constitutional right of workers to make their grievances known, industry needs to create partnerships that can facilitate this communication process in a way that is not to the detriment of the entire economy,” he says.
Jacobs refers to the recent violent strike action that took place on the Implats mine in Rustenberg. As a result of the strike, three mine workers have died and the mine has lost 80 000 ounces in production. The mine accounts for approximately 60% of Implats’ output and the company recently warned that April output could be affected by 50%.
According to Jacobs, in the aftermath of this kind of strike, it is crucial that organisations take immediate corrective measures to establish stability. Even though this is re-active it should be used to become pro-active again to try and prevent such actions from happening again. In a similar situation OIM has assisted a client to move from violent protest to peace and stability. Out of this re-active situation the client has had peace and labour stability for 12 years. He also stresses that these measures need to be sustainable in order to prevent a similar situation from occurring in future. “This relies on establishing the correct relationships and having the right culture in place that encourages people to come forward with their grievances. It is a process and not an occurrence,” he says.
Jacobs says the first step to opening communication channels is to establish the willingness of the various parties involved to improve the relationship. “Following a dispute, there is a lot of baggage and antagonistic feelings to work through and there is always a level of mistrust. Especially in a case like this where there has been serious intimidation. This must be dealt with immediately,” says Jacobs.
If the parties show a willingness to engage, Jacobs says various bi-lateral discussions with all role players should prepare the groundwork of for the continued discussion. “This includes establishing ground rules, and agreeing on a common goal for the relationship going forward.”
Following this, all key leaders and representatives of the various role players should come together to discuss issues in more detail and develop principles on how to repair the relationships. Mind-sets need to be shifted from confrontation to co-operation. All of this needs to happen within the framework that the constitution and labour law provides. “It’s important to shift the focus to the Intent of the labour laws. Often people tend to focus instead on the letter of its content,” he says.
He explains that the intent of South African labour laws is to firstly achieve labour peace and stability. Secondly, they are intended to achieve social justice as well as social responsibility. Thirdly, they aim for economic development and productivity and finally, they aim for the democratisation of the workplace.
“As soon as business managers and union leaders understand that the laws are designed to create prosperity and protect the integrity of both parties, a mutually beneficial and sustainable agreement can be reached. Therefore it is important to also develop understanding for roles and responsibilities of the different role players.”
Based on this agreement, a ‘partnership forum’ should be created whereby these discussions between all role players can continue on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. In order to ensure the stability of the new relationship, Jacobs recommends that a code of conduct is agreed upon – as well as a monitoring mechanism so that any destructive behaviour can be picked up and dealt with immediately.
Once leaders have developed this partnership, it should also be developed among all employees. This is done by engaging these employees in workshops to develop their understanding as well and canvass their buy-in to the Code of Conduct.
“By creating a business culture of mutual understanding, you keep people informed and engaged. This culture of understanding establishes an environment where employees know where and how to address grievances or concerns. If this is carefully managed, protracted and costly strikes could be avoided,” he explains.