CCMA ANNUAL REPORT

Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Annual Report 2022/23

oversees the management and support of the accreditation processes of bargaining councils and private agencies by ensuring proper monitoring and evaluation of their dispute resolution performance, and subsidy payment management and ensuring that stakeholder relations are maintained. The CCMA also monitored and provided process support on industry/sector wage negotiations through collective bargaining support processes on the state of the industry, relationship building and any other matters that may arise. The CCMA conducts regular meetings with bargaining councils to establish their dispute resolution capability in line with their registration and accreditation requirements. The CCMA continued to work closely to support accredited bargaining councils and private agencies. During the 2022/23 financial year, the CCMA convened its Annual Bargaining Council Forum with all accredited bargaining councils to address accreditation matters, strengthen and maintain stakeholder relationships, identify, and address challenges faced by bargaining councils in terms of accreditation, operations, and collective bargaining. The ESC is established in terms of Section 70 of the LRA (1995, as amended), with its broader mandate being the investigation and designation of essential services. The ESC, in delivering on this mandate, assists parties in essential services to conclude Minimum Service Agreements (MSAs) and where parties do not, determine the minimums to be maintained during industrial action. The ESC also monitors compliance with the designations and minimums that are to be maintained during strikes, including promoting effective dispute resolution in essential services. Section 70B(1)(b) of the LRA (1995, as amended) provides that the powers and functions of the ESC are to promote effective dispute resolution in essential services. During the 2022/23 financial year, the ESC engaged the entities and the organised unions to ascertain the effectiveness of the dispute resolution mechanisms in place. During the interventions, it became clear that some of the causes of industrial action are weaknesses in collective bargaining and internal dispute resolution mechanisms. The parties seem to have more confidence in external institutions resolving their disputes than resolving such disputes internally. There is a need to strengthen internal dispute resolution and assist the parties in rebuilding the trust between them. The ESC, in partnership with the Dispute Resolution Department, assisted the parties and yielded positive results. As also reported in the previous financial year, the essential services are attaining significant motion in South African Labour Law. The ESC engaged with NEDLAC and various stakeholders to draft proposed amendments to the relevant sections in the LRA (1995, as amended). As part of its statutory obligations, the ESC is obliged to monitor the implementation and observance of essential services designations, MSAs, Minimum Service Determinations (MSDs) and/or Maintenance Service Determinations for compliance and observance. The purpose of the monitoring and evaluation exercise is to ensure that the parties understand that they operate in essential services and that the services in question cannot be interrupted as such interruption might endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or any part of the population. During the 2022/23 financial year, the ESC conducted monitoring and evaluation exercises in local government, public health, old age homes and other institutions. From the monitoring and evaluation exercises conducted, there appears to be non-compliance of essential services designations from the public service which needs to be addressed to ensure compliance. The ESC also engaged with various stakeholders to increase awareness of essential service designations. Despite the efforts of the ESC, the slow pace of concluding MSAs in the public service came to a head during the public service strike. The fact that some of the essential services workers in the public service went on strike, and thus endangered the lives, personal safety and health of the population remains a concern for the ESC. The ESC believes that more should be done by the respective authorities to enforce compliance with essential services laws and prescripts.

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