sign it or leave it’) does not support
a good relationship. Most employees don’t read it, nor would they be
able to understand it if they tried.”
This situation is perpetuating the
power imbalance between employers and employees. Employees are
bound to terms which they don’t
understand, can't live up to, and
cannot use to hold their employers
accountable. In such circumstances,
misunderstanding and conflict in
the workplace should come as no
surprise.
Employing many workers who fall
into the vulnerable category, Indigo
Fruit Growers (part of the larger
ANB Investments Group) felt it was
important to address the contractual imbalance in the employeremployee relationship. “We are really excited about the transparency
this contract brings to our employee relations. It creates a more equitable situation, which can only be
the start of a more ‘honest’ relationship with our employees. I believe that workers can only commit
fully to the content of a contract if
they understand what they are signing,” says Abs van Rooyen, CEO of
ANB Investments.
Indigo recently initiated the implementation of the Comic Contracts®. First, the contract was presented to 50 fruit-pickers who had
previously worked for Indigo. Following the successful induction of
these 50 workers, the contract was
presented the next day to a further
163 fruit-pickers. Commenting on
the process, Faan Kruger, farm
manager of Indigo Fruit Growers
says: “The feedback was positive.
No picker asked for the old contract. Although everything was new
and there were many questions, the
process went much faster than with
a traditional contract”.
The Comic Contracts® used by
Clemengold™ were presented at
the International Contract Simplification Conference in Switzerland
(http://cgd.swissre.com/events/
contract_simplification.html#tab_6),
where it was received with great
excitement. Following the presentation in Switzerland, Robert de Rooy
has been invited to present the concept at The International Association for Contract and Commercial
Management (IACCM) America’s
conference in San Diego in October.
Robert de Rooy comments: “I am
really grateful to ANB Investments
for backing the Comic Contracts,
financially contributing to realize
something that had never been
done before, and be willing to implement it!”
For more information:
Robert du Rooy
[email protected]
+27 (0)82 772 5824