Labor Relations and Best Practices

Labor Relations:

4. Does labor openly confront management; what are the issues?

South African labor institutions, including those that ensure Labor-management relations and support social dialogue are generally thought to be weak. Many African countries have introduced a tripartite cooperation framework with the government, workers, and employers as an essential mechanism for reaching good labor relations, increasing productivity, and building consensus on socioeconomic issues. As a result, Labor Advisory Councils or similar institutions have been created in practically all English. These labor advisory bodies have been effective in dealing with the ratification of international standards, as well as the review of national legislation. However, their scope is often limited: their advisory nature tends to discourage effective participation among the social partners; and there is a tendency to confine consultation to predetermined labor issues. Furthermore, in some African countries, tripartite consultations have been a kind of state-controlled arrangement where the social partners were co-opted into the socioeconomic decision-making process.[1]

Some of the Labor Relations issues faced by South Africans include civil rights which span from the elimination of discrimination to the abolition of child labor; abuses persist in practice, especially in the informal sectors. To address these problems, collaborative interventions—such as increasing access to good schooling or making schooling compulsory—may be more effective than legal mandates. Most African governments appear not to enforce strict compliance with minimum wages. If the government’s aim is to reduce poverty by ensuring basic revenue to low-paid workers, then the implementation and strict enforcement of a reasonably low minimum wage (far below the average wage) in all economic sectors could succeed. [2]

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[1] “Labor institutions, labor-management relations, and social...