Employment and Labor Minister Thulas Nxesi said the Social Compact commitment announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Union address is critical to boosting job creation.
Mr Nxesi said there was broad agreement from social partners on the eight priority interventions and, similar to the ESKOM social compact, he expected five more economic sector agreements to emerge from this process.
The minister was speaking at Cape Town City Hall on Tuesday during the parliamentary debate on President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Union Address (SONA).
A joint session of the National Assembly (NA) and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) continued to discuss the President's SONA today, and the President is expected to respond to the discussion on Thursday.
Regarding job retention and creation, the Minister said the expansion of the ministry's mandate to include employment is reflected in consultations with government departments on national employment policy. This is expected to be finalized by September 2023, after which it will be submitted to Cabinet for approval.
“As Minister of Employment and Labor, we will establish a Job Creation Coordination Committee chaired by the Vice President and involving the Minister of Economy, Infrastructure and Employment, organized business workers and community organizations,” Nxesi said. Stated.
Mr Nxesi said the committee would be tasked with ensuring intergovernmental coordination on pro-employment policies. Relevant skills and educational frameworks. Extending social protection to workers and support to job seekers.
The Commission will also ensure an ecosystem that fosters sustainable enterprise development, self-employment, proactive regulation of the informal sector, and managing immigration to and from South Africa to benefit South Africa's economic needs. It is tasked with ensuring a labor migration policy and legal framework that is sustainable. Our country.
President's Job Stimulus Plan
Mr. Nxesi supported the President's employment stimulus package and said the department and its organizations continue to contribute to employment in the following ways:
- Coordinating the Pathway Management Network with the Office of the President to support young people.
- UIF has partnered with many institutions in job creation and retention. We focus on supporting small businesses.
- Productivity SA accelerates enterprise development and support programs with a focus on turning companies around.
- The introduction of a rehabilitation and return to work framework in the COID Act will facilitate the return to employment of injured workers. We also support the employment of people with disabilities through subsidies to 13 factories and designated organizations.
- As part of eliminating red tape, the ministry has submitted proposals to NEDLAC to amend the labor law to reduce the regulatory burden on small and medium-sized enterprises.
- The proposed amendments to the Employment Equity Act (EEA) will introduce measures to strengthen the prohibition against unfair discrimination, while improving the competitiveness of small and medium-sized businesses with fewer than 49 employees.
Enforcement and inspection services
Earlier in the year, Minister Nxesi visited farms in various provinces as part of enforcement and inspection of compliance with labor laws and national minimum wage laws.
“At the end of the third quarter, we conducted 236,000 tests and referred 5,100 cases for prosecution.
The minister said: “Our inspectorate has recovered R150 million owed to vulnerable migrant workers, who were employed precisely to exploit their vulnerable position as migrants. There are many,” he said.
Mr. Nxesi stressed that the fight against child labor is part of the inspectorate's daily work. He added that the Durban Call to Action adopted at the 2022 ILO World Conference on the Elimination of Child Labor was a milestone in the movement against child labor.
He said that in response to the high number of work-related injuries, the ministry was amending the Occupational Safety and Health Act (1993) to increase fines and penalties to deter unscrupulous employers.
Minister Nxesi said the findings of the ministry's dedicated inspectors had led the Ministry of Employment and Labor to develop a national labor and immigration policy that balances four principles:
- The perception that foreign workers are hired at the expense of the nationals.
- The economic need to source and acquire globally scarce and important skills.
- Protection of the rights of immigrants in line with international treaties and the Constitution.and
- Place all of this within the imperatives of regional integration and cooperation.
– SAnews.gov.za