GEORGE NEWS - "Case allocation to part time-commissioners was temporarily suspended due to the CCMA's affordability challenges as a result of the recent budget cuts." 

That was CCMA (Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration) director, Cameron Morajane's explanation for the recent suspension of the services of more than 500 part-time commissioners countrywide.

George Herald had enquired after Dr Hanneli Bendeman, a part-time commissioner at the George office, voiced concerns that the national budget cuts could lead to long delays in solving labour disputes.

Bendeman earlier wrote that she is one of the part-time commissioners whose services had been suspended due to the financial crisis:

"Most of these part-time commissioners depended completely on the CCMA as their only source of income. These part-time commissioners are highly qualified and experienced dispute resolution practitioners whose services could still be utilised by any employer or employee, however, it would be at a cost. 

Private labour dispute resolution is not a new phenomenon in South Africa but there had never before been a need for such a service because of the accessibility and efficiency of the CCMA. 

With the current wave of referrals due to the Covid-19 related dismissals and business closures, the backlog because of the lockdown and the lack of resources at the CCMA in the coming months, it might be necessary to re-consider the possibilities of private labour dispute resolution. 

In May 2020 the part-time commissioners formed a professional body, Saldrep (the South African Association of Labour Dispute Resolution Practitioners), a not-for-profit association for professional labour dispute resolution practitioners (LDRPs). 

This institution is in negotiations with the CCMA management, organised labour and business in attempts to resolve the crisis."

Uninterrupted services
Morajane said whilst the CCMA is currently not in a financial position to allocate work to part-time commissioners, since 1 December 2020, the CCMA has been able to fulfil its dispute resolution function through the use of its full-time commissioners.

The CCMA has also reviewed it operations and has reprioritised activities to ensure that its services are not interrupted. One such example is the increase in the number of telephone conciliations that are being conducted.

"This assisted in not only being able to conduct more conciliations a day, but also assisted in maintaining the overall rate of settlement of disputes at 70%," he said. In addition, it helped reduce the number of users who had to visit the CCMA offices to resolve these matters.

"The unavoidable consequence is that arbitrations may take longer to finalise due to the reduced commissioner capacity. As at 31 December 2020, the average period taken to finalise arbitrations was 70 days against a target of 75 days. 

This is compared to an average of 63 days' turnaround times to finalise arbitrations registered for the same period in 2019. The average time to complete a conciliation has remained at 23 days, which is similar to that of the previous financial year.

According to Morajane the CCMA remains committed to its legislative mandate to stabilise the labour market and provide expeditious dispute resolution.

'Unacceptable,' says Saptu
Saptu (South African Parastatals and Tertiary Institutions Union) in a statement raised concern about the CCMA's decision to terminate the service of so many part-time commissioners.

"With part-time commissioners out of service, the arbitration backlogs will quickly build," said Adv Ben van der Walt, the secretary-general of Saptu. "Workers will be the ones to suffer. It is a disaster. They will have to wait longer for cases to be resolved, or feel forced to settle disputes quickly for less."

Saptu is also concerned that employers might abuse the cutbacks knowing that disputes will only be heard much later if they dismiss employees now. "The situation is completely unacceptable," Van der Walt said.

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