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www.thevillagenews.co.za
29 January 2020
Local builders up in arms Writer Raphael da Silva
T
alks between the Whale Coast Contractors Association (WCCA) and the Department of Labour have broken down over the role of the Building Industry Bargaining Council (BIBC). During a meeting on Monday, 27 January at the offices of the municipality, the contractors refused to continue with discussions unless both the Minister of Labour, Thulas Nxesi, and his Director-General, Thobile Lamati, were present. “Where we are now is that we have been lied to. So I am promising one thing here. I am not going to be part of negotiations that are based on lies. We made it clear that we can only be part of the next meeting if the Director-General and the Minister of Labour and Employment are here,” said the Democratic Alliance’s Overstrand representative, Masizole Mnqasela, who chairs the committee mediating between the WCCA, BIBC and the Department of Labour. Mnqasela is also the Speaker of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. Overstrand Deputy Mayor, Elnora Gillion, echoed Mnqasela’s words and added that after two years of fruitless discussions, she also needed to take a stand. “I have experienced nothing but arrogance from the Department of Labour and BIBC. I have sent numerous emails to the minister regarding this issue, to no avail.” Members of the WCCA have a number of grievances against the BIBC. They argue that
although the BIBC may have sufficient support within its demarcated geographic area, particularly Cape Town, this support does not extend to the Overstrand. They believe that they should be given the opportunity to opt out of the BIBC collective agreement. According to the WCCA, the local building environment is completely different to Cape Town and so the same rules and wage levels should not apply. With the building industry in the doldrums for the past two years, those projects and jobs that do come up are extremely competitive. Contractors, many of whom have been in business for decades, complain that adhering to the BIBC wage regulations and deductions prices them out of the market against companies that should be following the mandated guidelines but are not.
down to R208.15. Contractors also complain that the BIBC has been overly aggressive in fining companies for non-compliance, particularly in the Overstrand, and is threatening to sell property, stock and vehicles in order to collect these fines. The jurisdiction of the BIBC Cape of Good Hope covers an area of approximately 4 000 km², extending from Pearly Beach in the Overstrand along the Hottentots Holland mountains to Riebeeck West and westwards to Yzerfontein, including the entire Peninsula.
For example, according to the BIBC regulations for the Overstrand, the minimum daily wage for a labourer for nine hours of work (the maximum daily hours allowed before overtime), is R259.11.
According to its website, the BIBC is a sector and area-specific bargaining council created in terms of the Labour Relations Act. This act makes provision for employer and employee representative organisations within an industry or area to enter into collective agreements covering “any areas of mutual interest” and, if they are sufficiently representative of the industry, the parties can approach the Minister of Labour to gazette these agreements and extend them to bind non-parties as well.
The employer is further required to pay towards a holiday fund (R18.31), bonus fund (R14.46), pension or provident fund (R18.89) and a sick fund (R2.95). On top of this is a mandatory medical aid contribution of R33.25. This brings the total daily cost for a labourer to R346.97.
The collective agreement is generally negotiated between the parties every three years and once signed, is gazetted by the minister with effect from 1 November of the applicable year. The latest collective agreement was gazetted on November 22, 2019.
A deduction of R17.71 is supposed to be made from a labourer’s wage by the employer for a pension or provident fund and R33.25 for medical aid. This brings the daily take-home wage
Thereafter, all persons engaged in the building industry within the demarcated area of the BIBC are legally obliged to comply with the terms of the collective agreement, whether they were
signatories to the agreement or not. In fact, the minister signs a specific declaration to extend the collective agreement to non-parties. Although the BIBC is a creature of statute, it is not sponsored by the state and is funded by levies paid equally by employers and employees, states the website. According to the BIBC it has four essential functions: • To offer a forum to negotiate a collective agreement between employer and employee representative organisations on an annual basis; • To administer the collective agreement entered into between employer and employee representative bodies in the building industry. The agreement covers standard terms and conditions of employment, such as rates of pay, benefits, holidays etc; • To resolve labour disputes in the building industry rather than referring them to the CCMA; • To administer social benefit funds for employees (e.g. retirement, medical aid, sick pay and holiday pay). According to the BIBC, it represents approximately 2 800 employers and 40 000 employees active in the building industry in its area.
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