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The much anticipated amendments to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) and the Unemployment Insurance Fund Act (UIFA) are nearing implementation. On 4 September 2019, the Minister referred the amendments and the corresponding regulations to the Unemployment Insurance Board for consultation. The next steps will be Gazetting for public comments before the legislation is finalised.

The International North South Edtech Conference and Expo will run from the 11th to the 13th of September in Cape Town. The conference will look at the digital disruption of education and training, including ICT capabilities, evolving digital technologies, and skills development needs.

The 19th Annual Commission for Employment Equity (CEE) report has just been delivered to the Minister of Employment and Labour, Thembelani Thulas Nxesi, by the Employment Equity Commission (CEE).

The recent amendments to the Labour Relations Act (LRA) 2019, as well as a general clamp-down on compliance, has already resulted in the Media Worker’s Association of SA (MWASA) being de-registered because it had failed to submit its financial statements since its inception in 2013. It has taken some time, but the powers of the registrar have set a precedent for unions and employer organisations. MWASA’s status as a trade union has therefore been stripped.

The law requires that designated employers must submit a report of how representative their companies are (across all jobs in the organisation) regarding race, gender and disability. (A designated employer employs more than 50 staff members. If a company does not have this staff complement, but their annual turnover is between R6 and R75 million – depending on the industry – the business will still be a designated employer.)

by John Botha: COO of Global Business Solutions

It often seems ambiguous when employers are called on to create and protect jobs while the economy is tanking. However, there are a number of levers that can be pulled to reduce the adverse impact of business cycles and cost creep. These include:

On 30 July, Statistics South Africa released their Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the second quarter of 2019. During this period, the official unemployment rate rose to 29.0%. This is 1.4% points up from the 27.6% seen in quarter one.

"Although government has done a lot of strategising in an attempt to curb unemployment," says Jonathan Goldberg: CEO of Global Business Solutions, "we are not seeing tangible improvements to the rate of unemployment. There needs to be less talk and more action."

Grant Wilkinson, Executive: Global Business Solutions

by: John Botha: COO of Global Business Solutions

There has been significant confusion as to when the provisions of the Labour Laws Amendment Act (LLAA) and the UI Amendment Act - in respect of parental, adoption and commissioning parental leave – will take effect. As a result of UIF system stability and testing requirements stemming from previous amendments, the three new benefits could not be immediately implemented.

by John Botha: COO of Global Business Solutions

It is envisaged that the amendments to the Employment Equity Act (EEA) will be promulgated in early 2020. These amendments are currently being debated by the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC). The EEA draft amendments give the Minister the right to implement these targets and to preclude designated employers who are unable to achieve these from accessing public sector tenders.