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Fine time for CCMA, says Mkalipi

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 12:50

The Department of Labour has announced that it is considering revising the powers of the Council for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to give them more teeth in dealing with non-compliant businesses, according to a report by Linda Ensor in the Business Day.

Amongst the ideas mooted for implementation is empowering labour department officials to impose fines for non-compliance with the act.

The present system requires an official to first issue a compliance order, and then re-check the business at a later date to check that the order has been implemented. If they still refuse to comply, the case would then need to be referred to the Labour court for mediation and application of fines.

Labour department senior executive manager Thembinkosi Mkalipi said that this revision was being taken in response to Commission on Employment Equity chair Jimmy Manyi's recent comments, in which he stated that employers are able to continue their discriminatory practices "with impunity" due to the CCMA's limited powers.

Mkalipi was commenting at a parliamentary meeting for the labour portfolio on the existance of discrimination in the workplace.

He noted theat the CCMA was viewed as a more accessable option that the unfriendly and intimidating court system, with over 100 000 cases passing through their hands each year.