South African local labour forums in the municipal sector: Structure, functioning and performance

Chabalala, Siphiwe

Title: South African local labour forums in the municipal sector: Structure, functioning and performance
Creator: Chabalala, Siphiwe
Subject: Labor productivity -- Public services -- South Africa
Subject: Labor disputes -- South Africa
Subject: Labor relations
Date Issued: 2022-04
Date: 2022-04
Type: Master's theses
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/57567
Identifier: vital:58075
Description: The South African Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 provides for the establishment of statutory, yet voluntary, employee participation structures in the form of Workplace Forums. These Workplace Forums were modelled on the system of German Works Councils. The establishment of Workplace Forums solely lies with a representative trade union in a workplace of more than 100 employees. Trade unions have not been enthusiastic about the idea of Workplace Forums, this is because they view these structures as a mechanism that undermines collective bargaining due to the limitations that come with consultation as a process in decision-making. Trade unions would rather have powers of negotiation, for which Workplace Forums do not cater. Consequently, very few Workplace Forums have been established in South Africa. In the South African Municipal sector, there are Local Labour Forums which are solely for employee participation over and above matters reserved for collective bargaining in the South African Local Government Bargaining Council. Local Labour Forums have powers of consultation and negotiation on matters that affect labour relations and employees in the municipality. Local Labour Forums became an area of interest because of the limited opportunities in South Africa to study Workplace Forums. The aim of the study was to investigate Local Labour Forums as an example of Workplace Forums as employee participation structures. Therefore, the main research question was: how are these Local Labour Forums structured, what are the details of their functioning and what are the perceptions of the participants in these structures of their influence on performance in the workplace? The aim was translated into four objectives. The first objective was to explore the structure and functioning of Local Labour Forums. The second objective was to explore the perception of the parties to Local Labour Forums, namely, councillors, managers, and unions regarding their relationships. The third objective was to explore the agreements concluded by the parties and their levels of satisfaction with the agreements. The fourth objective was to explore the perception of the parties to Local Labour Forums of the contribution of the Local Labour Forums to the service delivery of the municipality. This was an exploratory and descriptive qualitative study. The population of the study was the Local Labour Forums in two metropolitans, six districts and thirty-one Eastern iv Cape municipalities. The sampling method used was non-probability purposive sampling. Primary data was sourced using both interview guidelines and a short survey questionnaire. The data obtained was transcribed and thematically analysed using Tesch’s (1990) content analysis as a method. The findings of the study indicated that while both Workplace Forums and Local Labour Forums are workplace committees, Local Labour Forums operate differently from Workplace Forums in terms of their structure and functioning. A major difference between these two structures is that Local Labour Forums are joint consultation committees, comprising of both the employer and employee representatives; whereas Workplace Forums are structures which only comprise of employees who then meet with the employer on a regular basis. The processes used for both these structures are somewhat different because Local Labour Forums have powers of consultation and negotiation, whereas Workplace Forums only have the powers to consult and jointly make decisions, not to negotiate. Adding to these differences is that Local Labour Forums have powers to establish subcommittees who will report back to this particular structure, whereas nothing about subcommittees is mentioned for Workplace Forums. In terms of the findings gathered on Local Labour Forums based on the abovementioned objectives, it was found that the establishment of these municipal structures are mandated by the South African Local Government Bargaining Council. Local Labour forums discuss matters of mutual interest which pertain to their respective municipalities. The parties to the Local Labour Forums are from both the employer and employee components. The employer component consists of senior municipal management/directorates and councillors. The employee component consists of the two in-house trade unions, the South African Municipal Workers’ Union and the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union. The fact that these parties are from different backgrounds in terms of conscience does not affect the relationships and agreements of the forum, because they are all about what is good for the structure. When it comes to performance of the Local Labour Forum, it was discovered that these structures are not directly involved in delivering services to the municipalities, but the decisions taken influence how the municipalities deliver their services.
Description: Thesis (MA) -- Faculty Faculty of Business and Economic science, 2022
Format: computer
Format: online resource
Format: application/pdf
Format: 1 online resource (xii, 131 pages)
Format: pdf
Publisher: Nelson Mandela University
Publisher: Faculty of Business and Economic science
Language: English
Rights: Nelson Mandela University
Rights: All Rights Reserved
Rights: Open Access

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