CCMA 2014 Commissioners Indaba opened to media Copy

The 2014 CCMA Indaba will be addressed by among others, PROF ADAM HABIB, JAY NAIDOO (EX-GENERAL SECRETARY COSATU) AND LABOUR COURT JUDGE, ANDRE VAN NIEKERK, as well as having a panel discussion on a national minimum wage and “decent work” that will be moderated by Judge Dennis Davis and which includes as panellists, ZWELINZIMA VAVI (COSATU) NARIUS MOLOTO (NACTU), DENNIS GEORGE (FEDUSA) VANESSA PHALA (BUSA), VIC VAN VUUREN (ILO) on the topic “Can Income disparity and workplace inequality be addressed through a legislated national minimum wage and implementation of a country decent work program”.
The Commissioners Indaba, attended by over three hundred (300) CCMA Commissioners is an annual event on the CCMA calendar and provides an opportunity for the continuous professional development of CCMA Commissioners.

The theme for this year’s Indaba is ‘The equitable workplace – a pipedream or the next wave?’ This years Indaba will be held in Durban Kwa-Zulu Natal as the Elangeni Hotel on Thursday and Friday 4th & 5th December 2014.
This year’s Indaba programme is both focused on the Employment Equity Amendment Act (EEAA) which came into effect on 1st August 2014 and its implications for the work of the CCMA and its Commissioners and the broader challenges that we face as a society in bringing about equity in the workplace. Nerine Kahn, Director of the CCMA explains, “As captured by this year’s Indaba theme “The equitable workplace – a pipedream or next wave?”, 2015 promises to be even more challenging for all of us in the CCMA, as we continue to implement the far-reaching amendments to the Employment Equity Act and with the expected promulgation of the amendment to the Labour Relations Act early in 2015. Our role as the CCMA must be to make our small contribution towards ensuring that equitable workplaces become the norm across the width and breadth of our country”.

The Indaba programme (attached hereto) covers a broad spectrum of related topics that will be covered both in plenary and specialised workshop sessions. This includes a case study of the recent protracted platinum sector strike. According to Kahn, “The Ekurhuleni Declaration, signed on 4th November 2014 by all social partners offers further opportunities to broaden and entrench social dialogue, negotiation and collective bargaining as vehicles for continued change and that allows us all, as South Africans, to continue delivering on our constitutional contract and to protect and advance human dignity and social justice at every level.”

Nerine Kahn, the Director of the CCMA, emphasised the importance of this years Indaba in particular “As the CCMA, we remain pivotal in advancing the constitutional right of everyone in South Africa to fair labour practices. We believe that this is best achieved through dialogue, negotiation and collective bargaining processes, underpinned by the respective rights of disputing parties to strike and lockout. We cannot therefore as a society allow a breakdown in orderly systems of social dialogue, negotiation and collective bargaining and the CCMA must play its role wherever it is able to do so. The Indaba therefore forms part of a broad range of initiatives by the CCMA that are aimed at equipping CCMA Commissioners with the required knowledge and skills that will allow the organisation to impact where its services are most needed within the labour market.”