2.7 ELEMENTS OF EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATION
2.7.2 Workplace Forums
Landis (2005:303) states that the intention of the workplace forums is to promote participation and joint problem solving amongst employees in the place of work, irrespective of whether they are trade union members. Their purpose is to separate
bargaining on wage and related issues from cooperative relations, and are therefore intended to be supplementary to collective bargaining processes. The non-wage matters that the workplace forum seek consultation on include restructuring of the organisation, education and training, mergers and transfers, and changes in work practices.
Nel et al. 92012:349) sees the creation of work place forums as an intention by legislators to promote a more cooperative spirit in the traditionally adversarial employment relationship by drawing clear lines of distinction between indirect employee participation through representation by co-employees, and collective bargaining. Excerpts from the 2003 Lexis Nexis Butterwoths edition of the Labour Relations Act (Act 66/1995:57-61) reflects the following with regards to workplace forums:
(a) Establishment of Workplace Forum
Section 80 (1) – may be established in any workplace in which an employer employs more than 100 employees.
(b) Specification matters for consultation
Section 84 (1) – a workplace forum is entitled to be consulted by the employer on any of the following:
• Restructuring of the workplace;
• Changes in work organisation;
• Plant closures (partial / total);
• Mergers and transfers of ownership;
• Dismissal of employees;
• Any exemptions from any collective agreement;
• Job regarding;
• Merit increases or payment of discretionary bonuses criteria;
• Education and training;
• Product development plans; and
• Export promotion.
An evaluation of workplace forums
Various case studies have been written on the extent to which workplace forums have been successful or not in bringing about the desired outcomes as enunciated in the legislation. In a research by Kirsten and Nel in 2000, cited in Nel et al.
(2012:144) it is stated that the workplace forums have not been successful in many organisations, and the following recommendations have been made to ameliorate the situation:
• Workplace forums should be worker driven rather than trade union driven
• Organisations with less than 100 employees should be allowed to form a workplace forum.
• Strikes should not be used as s solution to problems
• Workplace forum members should receive special training so that they could function effectively.
• Employers, employees, and union should receive training to understand their roles perfectly.
This aforegoing discussion of the Workplace Forums is valuable to this research as it offers good understanding of another body operating at the same level, albeit within the local government space, called the Local Labour Forum (LLF), which is discussed below.
Local Labour Forums (LLFs)
The South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) constitute a foundation for the establishment of an interim structure called the National Labour Relations Forum (NLRF) which was formed to ensure the participation of employer organisations and trade unions under one single entity and for promoting transformation of labour relations in local government. In terms of the Main Collective Agreement of the SALGBC (2015-2020) every employer must establish a LLF, which will be entrusted with a responsibility of dealing with matters at the workplace level (Main Collective Agreement 2015 to 2020:44). The LLF is composed of management, which comprises of Senior Management and Councillors, as well as Trade Unions whose representation should be divided in proportion to their respective membership.
Powers and functions of a LLF
According to the Main Collective Agreement (Section 2.8.2) the LLF shall have negotiating and/or consulting powers on the following:
• Matters referred to it by SALGBC
• Minimum service level agreements
• Matters of mutual concern pertaining to the municipality but which are not the subject matter of negotiations at the SALGBC
• Disputes over what is negotiable and what are matters of consultation and over whether a specific process constitutes sufficient consultation are to be resolved through the dispute resolution mechanism of the SALGBC.
Impact of LLFs in Municipalities
By design, LLFs are established to strengthen the relationships between management and organised labour in municipalities. They are supposed to buttress participative governance, mutuality of interest, facilitative communication, shared goals, reciprocity of support and all the ideals mirroring a good management. Union relationship however, as postulated in the state of Local Government Report compiled by the Corporate Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) (2009), LLFs have not been that resourceful because:
• They are generally dysfunctional;
• They do not adhere to labour policy;
• They have very limited powers to conclude or resolve on substantive matters.
The Bargaining Council therefore impacts directly on the management union relationship at municipal level due to the long delay in concluding agreements;
and
• There is a breakdown in the management-union interface
Structure of the eThekwini Municipality LLF
There are currently five (5) LLFs and eleven (11) Unit Labour Forums (ULFs) which are sub-committees of the LLFs, as agreed to by the Bargaining Council of eThekwini. There are four (4) Human Resources Development Sub Committees (HRDs) and two (2) Basic Conditions Sub Committees (BC’s)
The Table below depicts the current LLFs Sub Committees in eThekwini Municipality
Table 2.1: LLFs Subcommittees in eThekwini Municipality
LLFs ULFs HRD BC
Treasury and Office of the City Manager
No Yes No
Economic Development and Planning
Development Planning Economic Dev & Investment Promotion Business Support & Durban Tourism
Yes No
Governance and Corporate Human Resources
No No No
Human Settlements and Infrastructure
Electricity
Engineering, Housing and ETA Water and Sanitation
Cleansing and Solid Waste
No No
Community and Emergency Services
Fire and Emergency Services Parks, Recreation and Culture Health
Metro Police and Security Services
Yes Yes No No
Yes Yes No No
Source: eThekwini Municipality Main Collective Agreement.
The LLFs in eThekwini Municipality have not been able to finalise the critical issue of Institutional Review (Restructuring) for the last 5 years, most of the time unions failing to agree with management during consultations.
Having studied the literature on the management and union relationship, it is opportune at this point to now turn attention to the other dimension which is important for this discourse- organisational development.