OVER the next few weeks, experts will debate the=20 details of the new Labour Relations Act, a draft of=20 which was published this week. This fine-tuning should=20 not detract from the central import of the document.=20
At one level, it is a technical feat to produce so=20 quickly such a comprehensive Bill that deals with such=20 a myriad of shop floor issues. It is bold, it is=20 imaginative, and it fills one of the more unusual=20 aspects of the brief given to the legal team who drew=20 it up: to write it in a language that the users of the=20 legislation could understand.
On another level, it is the first substantive=20 legislation that puts into practice the ANC election=20 promise to build a new society on a different=20
The Bill attempts to build co-operative relations=20 between employer and employee and not lock them into=20 the conflictual relations of the past. It encourages=20 worker participation in decisions through factory-based=20 forums; it gives workers greater rights to organise on=20 the shop floor and access to company information; and=20 it gives the labour department a role in activity=20 seeking to resolve conflict through mediation.
Nobody is really saying it, because of the way it might=20 be received in some quarters, but the Bill is a major=20 step towards building a social democratic society.=20 There is no reason to be shy about this.=20
To name it is to help understand the important change=20 it heralds in our social relations. Following shortly=20 is the formal launch of Nadlec, the National Economic=20 Development and Labour Council, which will bring=20 together the state, organised labour and business in=20 pursuit of the same co-operative spirit.
When Tito Mboweni was named to the labour post last=20 year, it raised some eyebrows because he was more a man=20 of business and finance than labour. But he has now put=20 that criticism to rest by moving quickly to bring=20 important change.
Whether the Bill achieves its noble aims is another=20 question. That will depend mostly on whether big unions=20 and big business — whose interests are at the core of=20 the Bill — are able to come to terms with the=20 important changes it will bring in the way they see and=20 deal with each other.