Volume 11, No.2 - June-August 2002

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Important information about new legislation, from the COSATU Parliamentary Office

Minerals and Energy Bill

This bill, which will vest mineral rights in the state, is an historic breakthrough. It will end the legacy of apartheid which built the mining sector on the basis of racist exploitation. The state will become the custodian of the national mineral resources, the historically disadvantaged will have potential access to the industry, and communities will have environmental protection.
COSATU has welcomed some positive changes which were made to the Bill, namely:

• Applicants for mining licences will have to submit a labour plan, as part of a social plan, to address worker related issues;
  
• Broadening the up-front financial provision companies must set aside to cover the social plan;
  
• The definition of an employee, so as to include "independent contractors";
  
• Tightening of the provision around notification of the board in the event of possible downscaling;
  
• Including concentration of ownership as a consideration in the awarding of prospecting rights.
  

We urge government and Parliament not to heed the self-interested calls by big mining companies who oppose the Bill, anxious to protect their vested interests.

Insolvency Bill

The Department of Justice failed to include a clause in the new Insolvency Bill, agreed upon in Nedlac, making it compulsory for unions to be notified if a company faces insolvency. The National Assembly Committee argued that its hands were tied, because the Department had not addressed our concerns in the Bill.

At the 26 June Nedlac Management Committee, COSATU raised government's violation of the Nedlac agreement very sharply, indicated that we were considering our legal options, and insisted that, at the minimum, the Department should present an amendment capturing the Nedlac agreement to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), which will be considering the Bill next session.

The Management Committee agreed that the matter would be discussed at the next Labour Market Chamber, and if labour's understanding of the agreement were confirmed, the matter would be rectified through the tabling of an amendment at the NCOP stage.

Immigration Bill

Serious problems emerged around this Bill and it now seems that the Minister intends to ignore Parliament's instructions to submit an amendment Bill to deal with particular issues, and intends rather to handle them through Regulations. Many areas of substance had been delegated by the Bill to be contained in the Regulations. We have therefore resisted attempts by the Minister's advisor to engage us in sham informal consultations, and rather insisted that the Regulations be formally tabled in Nedlac. At our instance, the Nedlac management committee has requested government to ensure that this be done as a matter of urgency.

Wage incentives legislation

Some modest advances were made through our engagements with government on this legislation, although two key aspects of our concerns was not taken on board:

• No mechanisms have been built into the draft legislation to prevent the displacement of existing workers by workers employed at a subsidized wage, or to provide for processes for the reinstatement of workers dismissed under these circumstances.
  
• The draft legislation has no provisions to promote the retention of a learner after the period of the learnership.
  There is an understanding that the application of the wage subsidy for learners needs to be monitored, and that these and other potential problems we raised need to be looked at jointly by the relevant Departments and ourselves.

Unemployment Insurance Act

If you resign voluntarily from your job, you will not be entitled to claim benefits from the Unemployment Insurance Fund. This is one of the changes in the new Unemployment Insurance Act. For full details, see the article on Pages 26-29.

The legislative programme and Nedlac

The last Nedlac management committee agreed that government must periodically table in Nedlac a list of all relevant forthcoming legislation and policy documents; and that in each Chamber there needs to be a regular audit of whether these issues have been tabled for discussion as required by the Nedlac Act.

Policy File

A comprehensive policy file and CD-ROM of COSATU submissions to Parliament from 1994-2001 has been produced. The file and CD-ROM are being distributed to all ANC MPs, COSATU national, regional and local leaders and all COSATU affiliates, for their Head Office and regions. The initial response has been overwhelmingly positive. (Accelerating Transformation is also contained on the CD-ROM).