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 The Labour Consultancy. THIS week, Labour Guides' Rael Solomon looks at the deluge of labour problems being referred for Mediation and Arbitration. With South Africa highly volatile labour situation, to some extent caused by the very labour legislation which gave birth to the CCMA, some 39828 cases had been referred by the 31st of August 1997. 14654 of these being in Gauteng alone. The monthly load has jumped from 834 in November ’96 to 5735 in August with 65% of all cases referred being settled at the mediation/ conciliation stage, comparing very favourably with international statistics in first world countries. To a certain extent this efficiency has been achieved at the alter of expediency. Employees and employers alike are generally not allowed legal representation at CCMA hearings - a real bone of contention to the legal fraternity and some employers and employees who claim that their constitutional rights are being infringed . 72% of all cases referred are for unfair dismissal With 125 permanent commissioners the CCMA is forced to use some 260 part time commissioners, mostly drawn from local advocates and attorneys. There are provincial officers in all nine regions with the head office in Johannesburg. Commissioners, facing increasing work loads, often tend to pressure the parties into settlements. The CCMA has adopted a two pronged attack to solve the back up of cases caused by the totally unexpectedly high rate f referrals - current cases being handled up to arbitration within two months. The backlog of arbitration cases should be cleared in the coming months. Examples of some cases settled include:
In another matter an employee alleged that at a X-Mas party her immediate boss had made unsolicited and unwelcome remarks and had touched her on her private parts. She did not report the incident to management. When some three months later she was verbally harassed by her superior, she complained to management and he was dismissed. he referred the case to the CCMA for unfair labour practice. In arbitration it was found that because she did not refer the X-Mas party incident to management, that the dismissal was premature. The man should have been given the opportunity to receive counselling and to remedy his behaviour. He was reinstated and given a final written warning.
Commissioners do not have any discretion in the matter. This can give rise to many anomalies where employees who are arbitrarily dismissed after admitting to theft or gross misconduct, are never the less being paid compensation for unfair dismissal.
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