ELRC 202324 Annual Report

EDUCATION LABOUR RELATIONS COUNCIL | 2023/24 ANNUAL REPORT

L EDUCATION LABOUR RELATIONS COUNCI

Dispute Management Services

Deviation from planned target to Actual Achievement for 2023/24

Actual Achievement 2023/24

Programme Performance Indicator

Planned Target 2023/24

Comment on deviations

Actual Achievement 2022/23

Status

Achieved Nine training sessions for professional development of DRPs were conducted and attendance registers were kept

Achieved Seven training sessions for DRPs were conducted and attendance registers were kept (including ITCILO Training) Achieved Four training session for the professional

None

Facilitation of training sessions

Facilitate six (6) training sessions for DRPs and

for Dispute Resolution Practitioners (DRPs)

maintain an attendance register.

Achieved Three training sessions were conducted for panellists

Facilitation of training sessions for Professional Development of Panellists

Facilitate four (4) training sessions for the professional development of panellists.

None

development of panellists were conducted

Strategy to overcome areas of under-performance The Council continues to minimise frivolous requests for postponement and to reduce the high number of adjournments by enforcing Clause 45 of the ELRC constitution. The increase in requests for postponements negatively affects the turn-around time for conciliation and arbitration processes, thus affecting the performance of DMS. The Council also encourages panellists to enforce Clause 54 of the ELRC constitution to discourage inadequate preparation for hearings and requests for postponement. In hearings where a child is a victim or a witness, the Council ensures that appropriate venues are booked for these special hearings, e.g. Magistrate Court, Children’s Court or Teddy Bear Clinic (Johannesburg) and DSD in FS and NC. The Council will also ensure that intermediaries are appointed to protect the rights of the child, as stipulated in Section 28 of the Constitution, “The Right of the child is of paramount importance in all matters concerning the child.” The Council continues to recruit panellists, interpreters and intermediaries to improve its efficiency. As a way of improving efficiency, the Council continues to enforce compliance by ensuring that panellists submit arbitration awards to the ELRC within 14 days of the conclusion of arbitration proceedings, as per Clause 18.5 of the ELRC constitution. Most disputes referred to the Council are unfair labour practices (ULP) related to promotion, appointments and dismissals. In a bid to address these disputes, the Council continues to rely on the DPTT to resolve these areas of concern. The Council has committed to assist the Provincial District Prevention Task Teams by providing them with statistics on disputes that are referred every month so that they can develop intervention strategies to resolve and finalise grievances.

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