Cabinet approves labour broking bills

Labour minister, Mildred Oliphant, has submitted highly contested amendment bills aimed at regulating labour broking to Parliament.

The amendments to the Labour Relations Act (LRA) and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) were submitted to the Cabinet committee last week and approved earlier this week.

The process has been marred by several delays over the years; heated public hearings and stalled negotiations on talks to introduce the proposed amendments.

While trade federation, Cosatu, along with youth political organisations have called for a widespread ban on labour broking, business organisations and the ICT sector have called for increased regulation – saying a widespread ban could effectively destroy certain business sectors.

In October last year, Oliphant slammed the progress of changes to labour broking laws and requested the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) to speed up the process of amending legislation.

The bills will now be considered by the Portfolio Committee on Labour before being submitted to the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces for adoption.

According to the department, the current amendments have their origins in the growing “informalisation” or “casualisation” of work that has become a feature of the South African labour market over the past decade.

The amendments have been effected to bring labour broking in line with labour law developments, the department states.