Hugo Pienaar of law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr reports that in response to a parliamentary question last week, the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) advised that there was “room” to conduct further research on working hours in SA.
The last investigation was conducted by the Employment Conditions Commission in 2014. The DEL said: “There might be a need to conduct more research in order to track the progress that has been made in the reduction of the working hours since the last report, and also to establish the feasibility of reducing hours of work – and the unintended consequences thereof.” According to the DEL, particular focus needed to be placed on sectors that were earning minimum wage. Separately, the reduction of working hours already forms part of the proposals under discussion at the National Economic Development and Labour Council’s Labour Law Reform Task Team, with the labour federation Cosatu having tabled a 40-hour working week for discussion as early as 3 March 2021. Pienaar writes that the challenge of such a model lies largely in its potential implementation, and potential amendments to the Wage Bill, more so in highly unionised environments where negotiations on basic conditions of employment are particularly complex. Notwithstanding, the topic of reduced hours of work without loss of pay, “may easily find its way to the tables of collective bargaining, which may radically alter the labour space for a time.”
- Read Hugo Pienaar’s full article in the above regard at Moneyweb
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