Correctional Services to oppose union’s court application on equity

The way the learnerships had been divided did not take Cape’s demographics into account

THE Department of Correctional Services (DCS) will this week oppose a court application from trade union Solidarity brought about by the department’s “disregard” of a recent court ruling.

Solidarity’s court application comes after the union requested the Department of Labour and the DCS in writing on more than one occasion during the past month to subject the DCS’s current affirmative action measures to scrutiny.

In April, the Labour Court had ruled that regional and not just national demographics should be taken into account for employment equity targets.

The ruling stemmed from a 2013 ruling that the DCS should take steps to ensure that both national and regional demographics be taken into account in setting equity targets.

“Despite the intentions of the director-general of Labour, Solidarity has not received any feedback and will therefore have to resort to the court again,” Solidarity deputy general secretary Johan Kruger said.

This week’s court action, which is set down to be heard on Friday in the Labour Court, comes after the DCS divided learnerships equally among three race groups.

Kruger said the way the learnerships had been divided did not take the Western Cape’s demographics into account.

“This is in breach of the Employment Equity Act as the DCS doesn’t have an approved employment equity plan at the moment. Kruger said applications for the learnerships had closed on May 22.

“We want to

obtain an urgent order prohibiting the DCS from awarding the learnerships based on race as, among other things, this amounts to a quota.

“As part of its urgent court application, Solidarity will also ask the court to prohibit the department from making any employment decisions that are not based purely on merit until it has a proper and approved employment equity plan,” Kruger said.

Kruger explained that the DCS’s employment equity plan had expired in 2014 and that the National Commissioner had extended it unilaterally and without consultation until the end of February 2015.

“This is contrary to the Employment Equity Act. DCS received employment equity guidelines which are yet again based on the national demography as target.

“Neither the DCS nor the Department of Labour has responded to our requests on the matter.

“We therefore have no alternative but to resort to the Labour Court to intervene,” Kruger said.

He said Solidarity’s latest application will be heard by the Cape Town Labour Court on Friday.

DCS spokesperson Logan Maistry said: “It is important to note that the court did not rule the department’s actions were unlawful. There are a number of other factors that need to be taken into consideration.

“The department will be filing papers to oppose the court application this week. DCS has complied with the ruling of the court and will continue in its efforts to work within the law.”