SOUTH AFRICA’S WORKERS URGED TO BE PORACTIVE IN PREPARING FOR NEW TECHNOLOGIES

JOHANNESBURG– Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant has urged South African workers to be proactive to prepare themselves for integration into new technologies at a time when there are concerns that modernization will lead to job losses.

She was addressing Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) shopsterwards and union officials attending the 2nd CCMA annual congerence here Thursday. The conference comes at a time when there are reports that the digital age will dis-empower humanity.

The two-day conference will discuss, among other matters, the role of shop stewards and union officials in South Africa’s progress into the fourth industrial revolution, which refers to the current and developing environment in which disruptive technologies and trends such as the Internet are changing the way people live and work.

CCMA Director Cameron Morajane said workers should be equipped with skills, so as to move with the changing times. If you lose jobs because we are using the machines instead of people, it’s a threat,” added Morajane.

“So we must understand how we train people to be able to drive those machines so that they don’t lose their jobs, so that’s important for us to equip the participants, to prepare for that because it’s already here and it’s going to get worse as we move forward because if that happens, people are going to lose jobs if they don’t have the necessary skills to run certain mechanics in a work place. If you’ve got the necessary skills you will be retained because you have been re- skilled and trained accordingly.

Morajane said it was the responsibility of labour unions to prevent job losses. It’s important that union officials understand that the duty to prevent job losses rest with them, because they understand the work place, they understand the workers, they understand the plight of worker,” he said.

“They also have a duty to make sure that there is no unemployment; there is no poverty in our society. So therefore they must equip themselves, represent workers effectively and make sure that instead of dismissing 60 000, you must end up dismissing 20 000 but that happens through a proper effective negotiating process between the employers and the workers.

Oliphant urged employers to work with the CCMA is ensuring that they understand legislation. She appealed to employers to help take the CCMA through the relevant legislation. “because in most cases you will find that they interpret the legislation the way it suits them while they don’t understand what that particular law has in terms of the intention is”.

“So immediately when they do that then they violate what they are supposed to do because they have the obligations to implement the legislation according to what we have agreed upon, she added.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

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