VARIOUS LABOUR ISSUES RAISED DURING REPORT BACK

THE Labour Department and its entities are doing their annual report back to the portfolio committee of employment and labour.

I attended the meeting virtually on the Zoom platform and was allowed to listen to the report and ask questions of the directorgeneral and the commissioners of the various departments.

The Unemployment Insurance Fund, through Commissioner Teboho Maruping, reported sterling performance and superb results. I was not of the same opinion.

I pointed out to the commissioner that I get dozens of queries, complaints and requests daily. There are individuals who haven’t been paid their Ters money, stretching back almost two years, and there are others who are tearing their hair out as maternity benefits never materialised.

Above that, the department seems to be broken as no one responds to emails, calls and even in-person visits.

Maruping has, once again, undertaken to answer my emails and see if he can sort out some of the long-outstanding problems. I live in hope.

I also asked about the Public Investment Corporation’s money that was invested through it by the UIF. Billions of rand seem to have gone missing or have been wasted. It appears the PIC is trying to investigate what happened to the money.

The department has said it has more than enough funds to keep paying claimants. The report is that it has R121 billion in an investment of which R110bn is with the PIC. I asked the commissioner to go out on an education spree to ensure that the public understands how the payouts work and how the calculations are done.

Often, I get queries from members of the public who say the UIF has not explained how the payments are calculated. The department has promised to go out and educate the public and unions.

Finally, I pointed out to the UIF that individuals who resign from their employment cannot claim UIF benefits. The law is clear on this. However, it does seem rather strange that if someone is dismissed for theft, they can claim UIF but someone who resigns can’t claim. The department has promised to look into this and do the calculations in order to determine how much more it would cost if it changed the law.

This issue is also going to be debated in Nedlac, the government, labour and business negotiating chamber.

I also raised the issue of employees who work in the disability workshops in the private sector.

Many of the workshops can’t afford the National Minimum Wage and have been forced to close or cut down the number of people they can help.

The director-general of the Department of Employment and Labour has promised to investigate this. It appears that the workshops can claim exemptions from the National Minimum Wage amount, to the equivalent of the amount that is paid to the extended public works programme employees. This does seem to be a possibility and it is hereby recommended that the disability sector looks into this as soon as possible.

Nedlac also reported to the portfolio committee and I put it to them that they recommended a new critical skills list for foreigners coming into this country.

The critical skills list is inadequate as it doesn’t address the skills shortage. It should be known that for each specialist skill that is brought into South Africa, we have at least three or four South Africans who can get jobs assisting the person with the critical skills and learning those skills.

Nedlac Commissioner Lisa Seftel said they were debating labour law reforms that were being considered. It appears that organised labour has tabled proposed changes to the Labour Relations Act.

A task team has been set up to look at the proposals and also to look at the proposals tabled by the government in February this year.

Most importantly, there is a debate about the extension of Bargaining Council Agreements to small businesses. It is my submission that the extension of Bargaining Councils to small business is destructive and stops small businesses from creating more jobs.