When Angus became Executive Director in 1987, virtually none of SEIFSA’ s income came from direct services to member companies.
“ It became clear to me early on that we were on a one-way street to nowhere. Every year the number of employees in the industry was getting less and less yet we could only increase our membership levies on a percapita basis, and at about the rate of inflation. So, our income in real terms was diminishing every year,” he said.
The challenge for SEIFSA was to improve and expand its industrial relations, skills development and economic and commercial services. At the same time, it was having to cut back severely on administration costs and staff.
“ The only way out,” said Angus,“ was to become more professional and to charge for some services. Members responded positively and that not only helped SEIFSA survive difficult years in the Nineties, but it also strengthened it as an organisation.”
He argued that an industry-wide collective bargaining levy introduced in May 2003 was fully justified. Until then, the member companies affiliated to the industrial associations under the SEIFSA umbrella were bearing the full cost of negotiating agreements that benefited all the 8 000-plus employers in the industry. The“ very modest” levy of R150 per month, payable to SEIFSA, spread the cost burden more equitably among all those who benefited. The levy proved a spur to SEIFSA membership. Non-member companies started saying:“ We don’ t want to pay a levy and get nothing for it. If we join SEIFSA, what services can you offer us?”
Angus said the more fee-paying members SEIFSA could recruit, the more it could build up its already extensive array of services. Enhanced services, in turn, would make membership more attractive.
Angus argued that business needed to work harder at improving its relationship with the democratic Government. He observed that from the moment the ANC came to power, its leaders had surprised many by the active way in which they had embraced free enterprise.
“ They have been a lot friendlier to business than we could have expected,” Angus said, adding that antagonism towards the business establishment still ran deep among rank-and-file Parliamentarians.
The Era of a new deal
The ANC joined leaders and organisations across the continent in declaring the 21st century an African century. The decade dawned with an emerging awareness that the transformation of a resistance movement with a high level of legitimacy into an effective government able to run the country was by no means an easy process.
As the decade of the infant democracy progressed, the high hopes of the nation began to be tempered by realism as the harsh reality dawned of the enormous challenges of mending a broken state with tremendous backlogs across the spectrum of housing, social services, education and opportunity resulting from the apartheid era.
At the beginning of the decade, SEIFSA, together with the industry’ s trade unions, was instrumental in introducing a radical restructuring of both the bargaining council and the approach to wage negotiations. This entailed a decisive move away from the long-standing, confrontational bargaining stance of the past and the introduction of more collaborative and effective collective bargaining mechanisms.
This significant departure from past practice with the assistance of a skilled facilitator resulted in a landmark two-year wage deal, a programme to introduce a 40-hour work week and flexible working time arrangements for voluntary implementation at company level. Central to this so-called new deal was a commitment to the joint formulation of an industry strategy to increase economic and employment growth in the sector. The establishment of the new bargaining relationship in the sector foreshadowed a more mature approach to future negotiations, improved relationships between employers and trade unions as well as a sound platform for industrial stability and growth in the industry.
Numerous progressive initiatives also emerged, such as the introduction of a collective bargaining levy across the industry and expedited dispute resolution processes.
In 2006, the Mbeki Government released the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative Programme( ASGISA) aimed at promoting economic growth and halving unemployment to reduce poverty by 2014. The social partners engaged actively in the ensuing debates, which included an analysis of the impact of the labour law framework on the employment environment.
A protracted labour law review process which started in 2006 took up a great deal of time and energy on a range of issues, including the proposed restrictions on employers’ rights to use fixed-term contracts of employment.
SEIFSA continued to play a major role in Business Unity South Africa activities in terms of social dialogue and engagement on trade policy, skills development, employment equity, tax matters and liaison with international employer bodies.
The introduction in 2003 of the broad-based empowerment strategy sparked off years of discussion and debate. While SEIFSA supported the broad thrust of the strategy, there was concern that it could undermine the key national objective of job creation and retention through loss of support for local manufacturing.
Growing competition from China and India presented significant challenges to local manufacturing, which impacted negatively on the sector. Concerns grew that China might emerge as Africa’ s new coloniser in the years ahead.
A massive influx of migrants into South Africa from Africa and Asia, described as the largest mass migration in modern history, resulted in devastating xenophobic attacks which left people dead or displaced and caused extensive destruction of property.
The year 2000 saw the implementation of the Sector Education and Training Authority( SETA) system in terms of the Skills Development Act and the Skills Development Levies Act. SEIFSA played a leading role in the establishment and management of the newly established Merseta and the introduction of the new levy / grant system.
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