WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION

1
WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION

• COMMENTS FROM CWU, COSATU, NEHAWU, NUM, SATAWU
  AND SACTWU

2
Overview

• Introduction
• Understanding of Employment Equity
• Experiences of Unfair Discrimination
• Employment Equity Processes
• Interaction with other laws the Role of the
  Courts
• Compliance Mechanisms
• Conclusion

3
Introduction

• Not a comprehensive report
• Based on
• Workshop by COSATU Western Cape Office
• Questionnaires sent to affiliates
• Two Research Studies
• Cosatu Workers Survey 2006
• Women on Farms Project 2006

4
Level of Understanding of EE

• Employees
• Only notices posted but no explanation
• No training, awareness programmes
• Management
• Some cases generally hostility
• Other cases replaced by going through the
  motions
• Attitude on how to stall the process

5
Experiences - Blatant discrimination

• Blatant Discrimination
• E.g. relating to Private Security Sector
• Fidelity Springbok Security Services
• South African Airways Technical senior
  positions
• E.g. relating to the Mining Sector
• Black Women working in the mines
• Contrast with experiences with white women

6
Experiences - Gender Discrimination

• Direct Discrimination on the basis of Wages
• Women in male dominated professions
• Far worse for black women within the designated
  group of Women
• Barrier posed by Gender division of labour
• Facilities available to women workers
• E.g. Child care facilities
• Farm workers
• Most Seasonal Workers are women

7
Experiences - Indirect Discrimination

• suitably qualified / inherent requirements of
  the job
• Retention policies to favor employees that have
  been in companies for long periods
• Introduction of intermediary tests, use of
  terminology like transfers to avoid recruitment
• Collusion with conservative unions
• Window Dressing
• Current trend of white COO overseeing a black CEO
• Promoted but not trained to do the job
• Promotion into a non-permanent jobs (Fig 35 p.34)

8
EE Processes - EE Committees

• Many instances not established
• Membership of the Committees irregular
• Collusion with conservative unions to frustrate
  the working of the committees
• Meetings called upon short notice
• EE Committees do not clearly understand their
  roles

9
EE Processes - Consultation

• Divergence between management and workers on
  interpretation of consultation
• No sufficient recourse where management fails to
  consult
• Lack of effective action by DOL to ensure
  consultation
• Length of time to get response
• Procedure of submitting EE report favours
  employer as little employee can do to dispute
  contents of report when it is submitted

10
Analysis, Numerical Goals, EE Report

• Analysis
• Many instances where no analysis has been done
• If done, undertaken by consultant
• Numerical Goals
• Unions not consulted on plans envisaged
• Focus on natural attrition
• EE Report
• Feeling that EE Report is a management tool which
  unions have no authority to alter
• Unions not party to meetings with DOL/Management
• Difficult for unions to challenge companies
  operating in various provinces on information

11
Focus on the Public Sector - the PGWC

• Lack of Coordination
• No EE Committees in Place
• Inaccurate information submitted to DOL and
  Public Service Commission
• Department of Health in Province addresses EE
  regionally and not at the workplace level.

12
Income Differentials

• Apartheid Legacy
• Cosatu initial proposal to close wage gap
• CEE report concentrates on members at top, middle
  and professional management
• Union difficulties on information on wages
• ECC responsibility to report on wage
  differentials
• Clarify time in relation to benchmarks
• Support for electronic application form proposal

13
EEA and the Equality Act

• Class Actions
• Under Equality Act any person can bring claim
• Anomaly with EEA in terms of workplace
  discrimination
• Frustration by workers in terms of time/cost
• Proposal to permit in cases of EEA class action
• Awareness campaign to distinguish redresses
  under the Equality Act and EEA (proposal given by
  COSATU to DOJ and SAHRC

14
EEA Skills Development Act (SDA)

• Is meant to support EEA
• Need for operational link between the two
• Relationship to employment equity plans
• Problems of separation of the two committees i.e.
  EEC and skills committees

15
Broad Bases Black Economic Empowerment

• Skewed towards corporate interest instead of
  workers (need for redistribution)
• BBBEE however highlights shortcomings of EEA
• Absence of targets and timeframes
• Lack of clear guidelines to distinguish between
  different categories within the designated group

16
Monitoring and Compliance

• EEA uses carrot rather than stick approach
• Role of Courts
• Lack of compliance
• Less reports received
• Less progress in implementation
• Weakness of the existing two pronged enforcement
  process
• Labour Inspectors compliance orders
• DG Review

17
Conclusion

• Progress very slow for 9 years
• Understanding - Low among workers
• Prevalence of unfair discrimination
• EE Processes not being clearly implemented
• DOL needs to develop clear strategies
• Link skills and EE
• Effective monitoring and compliance mechanisms
• Conduct analysis of implementation
• General need for minimal targets

18
Summary of Recommendations

• Improving Understanding
• Awareness programmes with enforcement
  possibilities
• DOL target management, employees TOTs,
• Link EE to business objectives to draw incentives
  
• Discrimination
• Transparent recruitment strategies
• Guidelines inherent requirements of the job
• Guideliness to distinguish specific groups within
  the designated groups
• DOL should monitor tokenism

19
Summary of Recommendations

• Incentives to companies versus name shame
• Need for DOL, DOJ and SAPS to increase
  enforcement in relation to vulnerable groups like
  farmworkers
• Integration with SDA, Equality Act etc
• Examine existing of compliance orders