Compliance Administration
What is the key role of the Council’s Compliance Administration function?The Compliance Administration function of the NBCRFLI entails administering basic conditions of employment, as stipulated in the Main Collective Agreement, which includes basic minimum wages and prescribed across-the-board increases.
How do we get to a published agreement by the Minister of Labour and what role does the Council play in this process?
- Prior to negotiations, the parties to the Council develop their “wish lists” regarding the contents of the agreement and the conditions of employment it stipulates.
- The Council administration staff then schedules meetings in terms of Council’s constitution. The constitution states that there should be three rounds of negotiations held.
- The Council also organises a senior commissioner from CCMA to be the facilitator of the negotiations.
- The Council’s administration staff don’t attend these meetings, unless they are called in to engage in the process.
- During the negotiations, the Council decides how long the agreement will apply for. The Council administration also puts together a bundle of documents, such as useful statistics, for use in the negotiations.
- During the first meeting, the parties to Council exchange their wish lists. If they agree on each other’s wishes, they then pass on this information to the Council and it draws up a signed Agreement.
- Using the signed Agreement, the Council drafts a schedule (Collective Agreement).
- The schedule is circulated amongst the parties to Council to ensure that they are satisfied with it.
- The schedule is then signed by the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the Board as well as the National Secretary of the NBCRFLI.
- It is now submitted to the Department of Labour so that they can check that the schedule is in line with the Basic Conditions of the Employment Act and other applicable legislation.
- The Minister of Labour may agree to the time period for which the Agreement will stand, or she may change it.
- The Agreement is finally published in the Government Gazette and becomes law within the transport industry. The Agreement is also binding on non-parties, if extended by the Minister, so that everyone is covered within the industry.
Even though Agreements have changed over the years, the changes have not been drastic ones and have mostly been about wages and allowances.
What are the typical activities undertaken by Compliance Administration to ensure that it carries out its mandate?The Council aims to ensure that the provisions of the Council’s Agreements are complied with by all stakeholders in the road freight and logistics industry. The designated agents, who are appointed by the Minister of Labour at the request of a bargaining council, play a vital role in ensuring this. In other words, they help to promote, monitor and enforce compliance with any Collective Agreement concluded in the NBCRFLI. They achieve this by conducting regular inter-alia educational inspections which helps to result in a decrease of member complaints as well as the non-payment of returns. Thereby enforcement disputes are reduced and enforcement issues are able to be dealt with early before the case goes to arbitration.
Due to the role that designated agents play, they are granted certain powers. These roles can be viewed by
clicking here.
What is the connection between enforcement and exemptions?The Council has an Independent Exemptions Body which considers exemption applications from stakeholders in the industry. If an exemption is granted, the Council then has to check, via an inspection, whether the exempted company complies with the provisions of that exemption. The Council is also responsible for enforcing the stipulations what were decided upon in the exemption. If a Council member is not complying with the exemption granted to them, a designated agent may submit a report requesting the Exemptions Body to reconsider the exemption due to the member’s non-compliance with the exemption.
Should an applicant not agree with a decision made by the Independent Exemptions Body, they may lodge an appeal with the Exemptions Appeal Body.
How does Compliance Administration link to the other functions within the Council?There are two types of enforcement:
- Complainant cases
When a complaint is laid, a strict process is followed whereby one of the Council’s agents will conduct an investigation into the complaint. Once the agent receives the case, the investigation takes two weeks. If the investigation cannot be completed within two weeks, the agent then needs to ask their senior agent for an extension and are required to give reasons for the extension request.
Once the investigation is complete, the agent issues a compliance order. The respondent is given 14 days to comply with the order. If the respondent fails to comply, a certificate of outcome is then issued to say that the matter hasn’t been resolved. The agent refers the matter to arbitration. Once the arbitration is scheduled, the case goes back to that agent.
Following the arbitration, the arbitrator then issues an award within 14 days and it gets served on the respondent. The respondent gets another 14 days to pay the award. However, if it is still not paid, the matter gets referred to litigation and once prescribed processes have been followed, a writ of execution is issued.
- The non-payment and/or short payment of returns
If an employer member fails to pay the returns it owes to the Council, they are sent two reminders. The Council’s system then generates a compliance order. If this still isn’t paid, then the case is referred to arbitration. A designated agent will be present during the arbitration and will explain to the employer why legal action has been taken against them.
How are the Compliance Administration activities streamlined across the various Council offices?The Council regions conduct their own compliance administration for their own particular region. Processes are however centralised, and the same documents are used, to ensure consistency across the different regions.
Downloads
