Posted by Ian Ollis on Monday, February 28, 2011,
The Daily Maverick - 27 February 2011
Holding unions and their members responsible for
violence and damage during a legal strike is nothing new. Numerous
precedents exist – most notably in soccer. Unions oppose such
responsibilities as too costly. Well, as the saying goes, if you can’t
do the time, don’t do the crime.
Unfortunately for politicians, we don’t always get
the journalists we wish for, and quite frankly we mostly just get to
suck it up. ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Sunday, February 6, 2011,
The Daily Maverick - 21 January 2011
When my ANC colleagues in Parliament told me
Cosatu wanted my head on a plate, I had genuine problems understanding
the reason they’re so upset. Turns out I’m just one of those bloody
slave-trading labour brokers.
Truth is, I had never really met a labour broker,
or in fact realised the intricacies of the difference between them and
regular employment agencies. All that changed when the DA nominated me
to serve on th... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Monday, January 17, 2011,
Note
to editors: The following statement was distributed this morning at a
press conference held jointly by Ian Ollis MP, DA Shadow Minister of
Labour, and George Boinamo MP, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Labour. A
copy of the document that was presented at the press conference is
available for download here. Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly
Labour Force survey for the third quarter of 2010 records the fact that
one in four South Africans (25.3%) are currently unemployed, using
gov... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Tuesday, January 4, 2011,
Farzana Rasool - ITWeb Draft amendments to labour-related Acts, which could see the banning of
labour broking, are set to cost SA millions of jobs, says the DA. However,
Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) has endorsed the amendments,
saying labour broking is a new form of slavery and needs to be banned
completely. The Democratic Alliance (DA) says the amendments
pander to interest groups that are only interested in protecting their
members, and have no concern for the plight of the maj... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Monday, December 20, 2010,
Press Release: 19 December 2010
The
Democratic Alliance notes that draft amendments to the Labour Relations
Act, Basic Conditions of Employment Act and Employment Equity Act, as
well as a new piece of proposed legislation, the Public Employment
Services Bill, have been published in the government gazette on Friday.
The
DA believes that creating a vibrant, growing economy must be at the
heart of efforts to address unemployment and alleviate poverty in South
Africa. We believe that the st... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Monday, December 20, 2010,
Press Release The Democratic Alliance notes that draft amendments
to the Labour Relations Act, Basic Conditions of Employment Act and
Employment Equity Act, as well as a new piece of proposed legislation,
the Public Employment Services Bill, have been published in the
government gazette on Friday. The DA believes that creating a
vibrant, growing economy must be at the heart of efforts to address
unemployment and alleviate poverty in South Africa. We believe that the
state has a responsi... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Sunday, December 19, 2010,
Times Live ~ Dec 18, 2010 7:38 PM | By BRENDAN BOYLE
The Department of Labour wants to radically redesign the workplace - and
increase state surveillance in the corporate world. The Department of
Labour has revealed a plan to radically redesign the work environment,
enforcing equal pay for equal work and setting up a state employment
agency to which every private sector job vacancy and every new hire will
have to be reported. Four bills released for public comment on Friday
by the new... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Tuesday, October 5, 2010,
Press Release
Note to editors: The following statement accompanies a press conference held in Parliament this morning.
The Democratic Alliance will today submit a Private Members Legislative
Proposal to Parliament, which will seek to protect non-striking workers
and the general public from violence and intimidation, and to protect
public and private property from malicious destruction during strike
action. The legislation would make unions liable for, amongst others,
penalties and dama... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Tuesday, October 5, 2010,
A pdf of the text below can be downloaded here.
SUBMISSION AS
PRIVATE MEMBERS LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL TO THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
SUBMITTED BY IAN
MICHAEL OLLIS, MP
DA SPOKESPERSON
FOR LABOUR
1 October 2010
To amend the Labour Relations Act 1995 (Act 66 of 1995 as
amended) so as to provide for the accountability of unions in the event
of destruction of property, violence and intimidation by union members.
Memorandum
Notice
is hereby given of the introduction of ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Thursday, September 2, 2010,
23 August 2010 - Source: IOL
As the SACP defended itself from Cosatu's criticism that its support for
the public sector strike was lukewarm, the DA said the law should be
changed to allow for unions to be fined if members destroyed property or
put lives at risk.
SACP spokesman Malesela Maleka called for cool heads yesterday, urging
Cosatu to forge unity in the tripartite alliance instead of "flinging
irritable insults".
The SACP's statement came after the Sunday Tribune reported that ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Thursday, September 2, 2010,
Press Release: 22 August 2010The
Democratic Alliance (DA) will be proposing an amendment to the Labour
Relations Act to enable penalties in the form of fines to be imposed
upon unions, or indeed any party to a strike, if a member of those
parties, such as a union member, does not follow prescribed good
practice during legitimate strike actions. We shall be submitting a
Private Members Bill in this regard.
The right to strike is enshrined in our constitution and is one of
the most ess... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Thursday, September 2, 2010,
18 August 2010 - Source: 2B BusinessYet another piece of legislation with the potential for devastating
the South African economy, the Employment Services Bill, is being tabled
before Cabinet. If this Bill becomes law, it will see the Department of
Labour become a massive, centralised labour broker that decides whom
companies will employ. Contract work, seasonal work and temporary jobs
will also be strongly discouraged.
“This legislation will hamper job creation and represents another ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Wednesday, August 11, 2010,
10 August 2010 - Source: Farzana Rasool, ITWeb The section of the Labour Relations Act governing labour broking has been removed from the draft amendment Bill, amid talk that the changes were so poorly written that they were kicked out by Cabinet. However, the labour minister has strongly denied this, without providing the actual reasons for the repeal. The amendments were expected to either ban labour broking altogether, or increase regulation of the practice. The
Democratic Alliance (DA) is ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Wednesday, August 11, 2010,
8 August 2010 - Source: Politics LIVE
The cabinet is weighing four amendments to South African labour legislation that are so poorly drafted they may actually destroy, rather than create jobs, says the DA.
The cabinet is weighing a package of four labour law amendments the
would destroy, rather than create jobs, the Democratic Alliance says.
The bills, which are intended in part to constrain or to limit labour
broking, have not been formally tabled, but DA labour spokesman Ian
Ollis says...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Monday, August 9, 2010,
8 August 2010 - Source: City Press, Jan Jan Joubert
Important new labour legislation affecting
labour-broking and other issues was so shoddily written the Cabinet
refused to accept it and the proposed new laws have to be redrafted.
Omission
of clauses relating to labour brokers, new powers for the Labour Court
including exclusive jurisdiction over constitutional matters arising
from labour disputes, and new powers for labour inspectors to enter
premises without a warrant, are some of the ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Thursday, July 22, 2010,
By Farzana Rasool, ITWeb journalist. Johannesburg, 30 Jun 2010
The year-end deadline for signing a Labour Relations Act (LRA) Bill into law may not be met.
Amendments are being made to the LRA,
specifically regarding labour broking and its possible ban or
regulation. “No amendments have yet been finalised. The Committee
has made recommendations that will be effected by the Department of
Labour as soon as the report adopted by the Committee is given a green
light by... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Thursday, July 22, 2010,
Press Release:
The shocking state of labour centers throughout the country was evident as members of the parliamentary committee on labour visited centres in four provinces during the month of May. There is evidence of gross mismanagement and the effects of typical ANC style centralization of the administration, leading to inertia and collapse of some services.
The PC on Labour recently visited labour centres in four provinces including the following locations:
Rustenburg, Brits, Kwamhlush... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Thursday, July 22, 2010,
Joint statement by Andrew Louw MP, DA Shadow Minister of Labour and Ian
Ollis MP, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Labour
DA reveals scathing report hidden from Parliament: R85-million cost
likely to be incurred as a consequence of Labour Department bungling
The Democratic Alliance (DA) can today release publicly a confidential
report compiled by auditing firm KPMG, into the gross mismanagement of
the Department of Labour in the handling of the R1.7-billion Siemens IT
contract. The rep... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Thursday, May 20, 2010,
Press Release: 17 May 2010
A Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary question
has revealed that the Department of Labour spent nearly R
350 000 on an end-of-year function for 150
department officials in December 2009. Guests from around the country
were treated to return flights to Gauteng, hotel accommodation at an
average cost of R 1400 per person and a party at the luxury Irene
Country Lodge. Considering the current employment crisis – one million
jobs lost between 2008 and 2009 - i... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Tuesday, March 30, 2010,
Press Release: 3 March 2010
In a
remarkable attempt to rewrite history, Labour Minister Membathisi
Mdladlana’s spokesperson Mzobanzi Jikazana has now attempted to claim
that Minister Mdladlana never called for labour broking to be banned. Mr.
Jikazana is being quoted as saying in this morning’s press: “Despite
what the media may say, the minister has never once used the word ‘ban’.
He has only said that he wants to ‘deal with’ the issue of labour
brokers, and if necessary ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Thursday, February 25, 2010,
Press Release: 19 February 2010 The Director General of Labour Jimmy Manyi has admitted to the Portfolio Committee on Labour that the Training Layoff Scheme has
trained, or is in the process of training, only 3 000 retrenched
workers from five companies. The Training Layoff Scheme was presented
to the public amidst much fanfare by the ANC government, who presented
it as their “rescue plan”, but this admission demonstrates the true
extent of its failure. With R2.4 billion allocated specific... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Thursday, October 22, 2009,
The Department of Labour (DoL) has admitted that the
software used for the workers compensation fund is so flawed that “[it] cannot
possibly account for each claim in the system, and it cannot tell us the status
of that claim”. This means that workers injured on site would not be able to
receive prompt payment on a filed claim against the fund as they are legally
entitled to.
Fund commissioner Shadrack Mkhonto told the portfolio committee on labour
that the situation has deterior... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Thursday, October 22, 2009,
19
October 2009
The Department of Labour has failed miserably in its mandate to create job
opportunities and train workers. In the 2008/09 financial year it underspent 51%
of the money allocated to the National Skills Fund. This is an indictment, and
suggests the department’s plans for responding to the global economic downturn
have not been properly implemented. Importantly, the Minister of Labour,
Membathisi Mdladlana, now needs to account for these shortcomings. The DA will
put th... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Thursday, October 22, 2009,
OP ED piece in the Business Report of the Sunday Independent
Labour Broking has for years been a worldwide phenomena. Labour brokers in many countries find temporary work for all kinds of skilled and unskilled workers in a vast range of industries. When large infrastructure projects
such as the Gautrain, the underwater New York tunnel, or the new Bankok International Airport are built, labour brokers find skilled workers with the scarce skill sets needed for such projects. Some engineers enjoy ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Thursday, October 22, 2009,
JOINT STATEMENT BY ANDREW LOUW, MP, WILLIE MADISHA, MP, AND IAN OLLIS, MP, DA SHADOW MINISTER OF LABOUR, COPE SPOKESPERSON AND DA DEPUTY SHADOW MINISTER OF LABOUR
Release: 8 October 2009
Yesterday’s
disruption of the public hearings on labour brokers in Germiston is a
mutilation on the dignity of parliament and cannot be tolerated. These
hearings are in fact nothing but a charade, with the ANC and Cosatu
making a farcical pretence at “discussing” an issue on which they have
in fact made ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Thursday, October 22, 2009,
5 OCTOBER 2009 Today’s
provincial public hearings on labour brokers are in complete disarray.
After the labour portfolio committee arrived at site at Matshabi in the Free
State, it became clear that nothing has been arranged for the actual
hearing – the Speaker of the House was only informed of the hearings
this morning. This goes to prove that the public hearings: - Were not adequately advertised,
- Were badly planned from the start and badly executed, and
- Will not serve as a vehicle for full ...
Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Thursday, October 22, 2009,
STATEMENT BY ANDREW LOUW, MP, PHILLIP DEXTER, MP, AND IAN OLLIS, MP DA SHADOW MINISTER OF LABOUR, COPE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DA SHADOW DEPUTY MINISTER OF LABOUR
Release: 1 October 2009
Labour
brokers, or Temporary Employment Services, have become prominent
role-players in the South African economy where they facilitate job
creation, train workers and assist businesses to operate in the most
effective possible way. The
industry generates turnover of in excess of R23 billion per annum an... Continue reading ...
Posted by Ian Ollis on Thursday, October 22, 2009,
STATEMENT BY ANDREW LOUW, MP AND IAN OLLIS, MP DA SHADOW MINISTER OF LABOUR AND DA SHADOW DEPUTY MINISTER OF LABOUR
19 AUGUST 2009 The Tripartite Alliance is hell-bent on shutting down all forms of labour brokering in South Africa and
the process for amending legislation kicks off this week! The proposed
amendments to legislation such as the Labour Relations Act (LRA) and
the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) will affect most
employers in South Africa, with the ANC’s aim being to put
... Continue reading ...
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