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COSATU Submission onDraft Construction Industry Development Board BillPresented to the Department of Public Works, January 2000
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COSATU Submission onDraft Construction Industry Development Board BillPresented to the Department of Public Works, January 2000
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COSATU welcomes the publication of the Draft Construction Industry Development Bill ("the Draft Bill"). The Draft Bill is an important contribution to regulating the construction industry, and to ensuring that the industry becomes more efficient and productive, and that it is able to play the role that it should in meeting national development priorities.
The Presidential Jobs Summit highlighted the potential contribution of the construction industry to improving peoples’ lives and to stimulating economic growth and job creation. The extent of the infrastructural backlogs are documented, and there are clear needs across the economy and society more broadly. This includes the health sector (hospitals and clinics), education (schools), water and sanitation, electricity, the building and maintenance of roads and ports, as well as houses, government buildings, and recreational facilities.
The emphasis on ensuring that the construction industry (including the public and private sectors) is encouraged, and assisted, to meet "best practice standards" is one that we would fully support. We believe it will make a significant impact on problems that have been experienced in the past, and in ensuring that the industry can meet the challenges that lie ahead.
There are however a few areas that we believe could be strengthened in the Draft Bill, and we raise these points in this context.
The Draft Bill defined "best practice" at 1(a). We support the elements that are proposed in this definition, particularly those at 1(a)(i). In addition, we propose the specific inclusion of "improved labour relations". This aspect is captured in the White Paper, and we would recommend it be carried into the Bill. This is a sector where there has traditionally been volatile labour relations, with many employers opting out of central bargaining arrangements. It is important, as a way of stabilising the industry, and in a manner that is consistent with the Labour Relations Act (LRA), to encourage contractors to improve the manner in which labour relations is conducted. If further detail of "improved labour relations" is deemed desirable, this could include full compliance with all labour legislation and commitment to centralised bargaining.
Following from our proposal in 2.1 above on the definition of best practice, the improvement of labour relations should be included under 4(1)(c) as an area that will be given attention by the Construction Industry Development Board ("the Board"), and that standards and guidelines should be developed in this regard.
Further, we propose the addition of a specific objective of promoting and monitoring employment within the construction industry. Given South Africa’s unemployment crisis and the job losses which have been experienced within the construction industry, the Board should be mandated to gather and analyse information on employment trends within the industry and in particular to promote employment retention and creation.
Clause 5(1)(h) of the Draft Bill lists various objectives towards which the Board can "initiate, monitor, promote and implement national programmes and projects". COSATU proposes the inclusion of employment retention and creation in this clause.
Clause 5(1)(k) of the Draft Bill specifies a function of the Board to be consulting with organs of state to identify the construction industry related budgets and to monitor the application of such budget. This function is critical to the success of the Board, and its ability to meet its objectives. However, it needs to be strengthened in two ways. Firstly, that the function needs to extend beyond monitoring and should include the power to advise the inter-ministerial committee on problems that may occur. This could for example pertain to budget items that are intended for infrastructural development being utilised to cover other expenses. The board could also make submissions into the budgetary process so as to highlight the implications for national objectives where certain infrastructural activities are under-budgeted for in the different tiers of government. Secondly, the Board needs to be explicitly given the power to access the information that it requires in order to effectively carry out this function. This increases the ability of the Board to access certain pieces of information which will be vital in the carrying out of this function.
With reference to clause 6(3), we fully support the establishment of the Board, and believe it is important that it can carry out its functions in a manner that takes forward national priorities rather than what could be perceived as sectoral interests. However we believe that it would be important that the broad sectors are cited in this paragraph so as to avoid a situation in which members of the Board are all drawn from a particular sector, and certain sectors do not form part of the Board. The Minister should thus ensure that there are members of the Board who can adequate represent the interests of labour and business.
This would also have a bearing on clause 7(5), which deals with the period and conditions of membership of Board members. We would recommend that the Minister relieve a person from their position on the board where they are no longer able to make input from the perspective of a particular sector (for example in a situation where they are no longer located within a particular sector). This would ensure that the broad views emanating from all sectors of society are not lost to the board.
The Draft Bill recommends (at 15(1)) that the evaluation takes place every 5 years. However, we would recommend that the period be amended to 3 years so as to coincide with the Boards period of office. This would be important as it would potentially influence the future composition of the board.
We support the establishment of this inter-ministerial committee and believe that it has the potential to greatly assist the coordination of infrastructural development.
5.1 Registration of contractors
We are supportive of the concept of the register of contractors and believe that it will assist with a number of problems that have occurred over the past few years. Notably, it will ensure that standards are adhered to and that contractors are regulated. This can potentially ensure that all contractors begin to adhere to labour legislation. In this we support the objective 18 (1) (b) which seeks to "promote minimum standards and minimum statutory requirements".
We would recommend that this aspect be included in 18 (5) where the principles for registration are laid out. 18 (5) (f) should have as point (iii) failure to adhere to minimum labour standards and regulations. This includes the Labour Relations Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, Employment Equity Act, and the National Skills Act.
We support the Register of Projects scheme as proposed in the legislation. We believe that this could facilitate the imperative of job creation through the targeting of certain projects as labour intensive projects. This could also assist with the monitoring of these projects so as to ensure that the targets set out for the projects are met, and that the conditions associated with labour intensive activities are adhere to.
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