ESSENTIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE STAKEHOLDER CONFERENCE

IMATU participated in the inaugural Essential Services Committee (ESC) Stakeholder Conference at the Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre from 26 to 27 October 2016. Stakeholders met to discuss and propose lasting solutions to the challenges in the essential services world of work.

In her keynote address, Minister of Labour, Mildred Oliphant highlighted the difficulty in designating a service or any part of a service, as an essential service. She acknowledged that while workers have a constitutional right to strike, the Labour Relations Act outlines restrictions on this right in respect of those workers who are engaged in designated essential services.

IMATU General Secretary and ESC member, Johan Koen, delivered a presentation outlining the evolution of the essential services dispensation in South Africa. Delegates were advised of the developments of strike and essential law, legislative amendments and the roles and responsibilities of the ESC.