05 Mar Communication and labour stability crucial
Communication and labour stability crucial 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. Businesses are urged to establish open communication channels to foster productive relationships and enable grievances to be dealt with immediately. 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. As a result of the recent violent strike action that took place on the Implats mine in Rustenberg, 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%. Implats has lost approximately R1.2 billion so far as a result of the strike. In the aftermath of this kind of strike, it is crucial that businesses and unions 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. 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. 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. If the parties show a willingness to engage, various bi-lateral discussions with all role players should prepare the groundwork 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. Mindsets 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 on the letter of its content instead. 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, fourthly, they aim for the democratisation of the workplace and finally, for skills development. As soon as business managers and union leaders understand and take ownership of the fact 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, I recommend 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 established 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.