Glenn Adler argues that workers and management alike should overcome their instinctive suspicion of the plan to create workplace forums
THE proposal to create workplace forums — in the new Labour Relations Act (LRA) — is an attempt to bring South Africa’s move to political democracy into the workplace.
Political democratisation has created the opportunity to change labour relations and, in turn, workplace forums should strengthen the new political democracy by democratising the factory floor.
Under conditions of globalisation, competitiveness comes about through “employee involvement”, which has become a production imperative. Market demand for quality puts a premium on employee performance while new computer technologies decentralise decison-making and increase employees’ influence.
Management cannot simply tell employees what to do, but must trust them not to misuse their increased discretion. One approach is to increase employees’ commitment to the enterprise.
Some South African managers understand these issues and have instituted employee involvement schemes which often amount to discussion forums with little real decision- making power. As such, they are often distrusted by employees and opposed by unions.
Under apartheid this was a rational response. Without a purchase on decison making in firms or government, employees could not enjoy the fruits of improved productivity. There was little incentive to improve work standards; indeed, ungovernability on the shop floor was considered virtuous as it speeded up the demise of apartheid. Now, however, the economy will suffer — and political democratisation will be compromised — if employees’ “militant abstention” from production decisions continues.
Political democratisation has given South Africa a historic opportunity to reverse these conditions by giving ordinary citizens a measure of influence over the most important decisions that affect their lives. The workplace and the economy more generally can be put on a different footing if the second transition, economic democratisation, is taken seriously.
Chapter 5 of the LRA promotes economic democratisation by allowing for workplace forums in all workplaces with more than 100 employees. Because of employees’ fears of liaison and works committees — apartheid-era “toy telephones” designed to undermine unions — the LRA insists that forums can be initiated only by a representative trade union. Once organised, the forums will be composed of elected representatives of all employees except senior management. Forums are by definition non-union bodies, but they will work best where unions are strong — both to trigger the forum and to service it once established.
The forums will have extensive statutory rights to influence the most significant decisions in the workplace. These could include: major investment decisions; new technology; staff development; promotions, dismissals and retrenchments; and plant closure. The forums will generally be concerned with expanding the economic pie, rather than its division, and wages will remain the subject of bargaining between unions and management.
In some cases forums will make these decisions jointly with management. In others, management must consult with the forum “with a view to reaching consensus” — the forum may present alternative proposals, and management would have to give reasons if it rejects them. The forum will have the right to all relevant information, and employers will provide facilities such as offices, secretarial support, and paid time off for members.
Once established, forums cannot be dissolved. Both sides are forced to co-operate in a “Catholic marriage” — they may not love each other, but they must learn to live together.
Workplace forums should deliver the efficiency bonus essential for economic growth and increased competitiveness. With joint decision-making over staffing decisions employees can have confidence that efforts to improve productivity will not result in job loss. They can make criticisms of management without fear of prejudice to their conditions of employment. Finally, forums help ensure that employees’ interests are given weight in key decisions. By removing the obstacles to participation, the forums encourage employees to share their intimate knowledge of the production process and thereby help improve productivity.
Management, in being compelled to share information and to provide reasons for its decisions, will be forced to act with greater deliberation. The forums will slow down but also improve the quality of decision-making.
Finally, the forums should help ease the often self- defeating and reactive adversarialism that characterises South African industrial relations. They encourage the creation of consensus, but not through good will or an ephemeral balance of collective bargaining power — they encourage both sides to realise their interdependence in decision-making,.
The strengths of workplace forums come about through a fundamental compromise. Employees contribute to efficiency because they know their interests will be represented, while management accepts such representation because it desires workers’ co-operation with its goals.
This compromise is also the reason forums are currently viewed with suspicion by management and unions alike. Management fears giving up its prerogatives while labour fears its powers will be diluted by entering a non-union institution in which it will have to take responsibility for “co-managing capitalism”.
These fears are shortsighted. Management relaxes its grip on core prerogatives, but receives improvements in productivity while retaining legal authority over the enterprise. Trade unions lose nothing: astute unionists can place their stamp on the forums, expand employee participation, and use management-provided facilities to bolster capacity and organisation while returning important benefits to their members.
Successful forums will require strong managements and strong trade unions, but such strength will be orientated toward new goals. This means — not an end to conflict — but a more sophisticated way of resolving differences.
Workplace forums should be welcomed as the central institution in a new vision of industrial relations and economic development. The transition to economic democracy can remake the world of work and help build a firm bedrock for economic growth. In so doing, it will fundamentally reinforce the transition to political democracy.
Dr Adler is a staff associate of Wits University’s Sociology of Work Unit