The CCMA's outreach services have over the years grown into a vibrant, multi-faceted, capacity building and awareness raising initiative reaching communities all over South Africa.
From small beginnings involving a few workshops these services are now much in demand, delivering a multitude of support activities for its users and social partners every year.
Core activities and services
Empowering CCMA users and social partners: awareness raising on legal and workplace rights through community radio talk shows, Izimbizo meetings and road shows; capacity building on the law and best practice use of the CCMA through workshops, presentations and seminars.
Delivering the CCMA's social justice mandate: ensuring accessibility to the law and the CCMA to all; treating all CCMA users with respect and dignity; empowering vulnerable sectors and communities.
Contributing to the streamlining of CCMA dispute resolution processes and reducing unnecessary referrals: promotion of compliance with and appropriate usage of CCMA dispute resolution processes; conducting of trends analyses and trouble shooting with CCMA users.
Contributing to the transformation of workplace relations: Building Workplace Relations, Managing Conflict in the Workplace and Dealing with Workplace Discipline projects.
Promoting and facilitating social dialogue: facilitation of social partner events on topical labour market and legal issues through summits, user forum meetings and seminars.
Impact of outreach services - enhancing the lives of tens of thousands of people
The CCMA's outreach services have enhanced the working lives and built the capacity of literally tens of thousands of workers, unionists, managers, employers and advice officers. In the 2010/11 year alone a total of 2,929 outreach activities were held, directly involving approximately 56,000 people.
Looking ahead
The CCMA outreach services have a number of exciting initiatives on its agenda. This includes the promotion of workplace mediation, building workplace capacity to address unfair discrimination, further development of its Building Workplace Relations project and intensifying the CCMA's role as a facilitator of social dialogue.
The CCMA's Employment Security and Job Saving Strategy
An important development in the CCMA has been the conceptualisation and implementation of a holistic, integrated approach to addressing business distress and job insecurity. This has evolved into an overall job saving strategy.
The objective of the strategy is to leave no stone unturned in pursuing the quest for business health and job security. Where this is not possible, to not let any retrenched worker 'walk into the sunset' without facilitating the provision of survival and support mechanisms.
The key aspects to the CCMA's job saving strategy are as follows:
- Business rescue / recovery: early workplace-based interventions along with interventions linked to large scale facilitation and training layoff referrals through partnerships with Productivity SA and other organisations.
- Enhancement of the large scale facilitation process: further exploration of appropriate alternatives to income loss and retrenchment; enhanced capacity to effectively implement the Training Layoff Scheme and variants of it.
- Facilitation of survival and support mechanisms for retrenched workers through partnerships with organisations such as the DoL Public Employment Branch.
- Continuous exploration of new and improved approaches and mechanisms through ongoing sharing of experiences and learnings between CCMA facilitators.
Training Layoff Scheme delivery
The CCMA has played a leading role in the establishment and implementation of the NEDLAC initiated Training Layoff Scheme. The Scheme constitutes an important mechanism in the broader quest to save jobs and promote employment security.
While there have been ups and downs, the TLS is now bedding down well and is proving to be a valuable job saving mechanism where applied in the appropriate circumstances. There have been a number of success stories in this regard.
The CCMA's Development, Education and Training Services
The CCMA places great emphasis on the training and development of its staff and commissioners. Its Education and Training Department has grown significantly since it first started delivering training fifteen years ago and now offers a range of capacity building and continuous professional development services. These services have now evolved into targeted, high impact capacity building interventions informed by needs analyses, job profiles and learning maps delivered through adult, outcomes based facilitation methods.
In line with the strong emphasis placed on capacity building, the CCMA has now also established a dedicated Training Development Unit. This unit is responsible for the conceptualisation, development and continuous updating of all training materials, along with the associated assessment and facilitation methods. This includes both internal and external (outreach) training offered by the CCMA.
CCMA capacity building flagship
The CCMA capacity building flagship is the commissioner training and development programme, with between 50 and 80 competent and ready to practice commissioners being produced each year.
This programme has evolved over the years and is now a seven module, formative and summative assessment based course followed by a rigorous mentoring process. This is followed by ongoing continuous professional development activities for practicing commissioners.
Commissioners not only practice within the CCMA, but also within Bargaining Councils and more broadly in the labour market, thus making a contribution to the labour market skills levels in general.
Delivery of SAQA registered dispute resolution qualifications
The CCMA is also in the process, together with the Labour Relations Practice industry, of developing and facilitating the delivery of SAQA (South African Qualifications Authority) registered dispute resolution qualifications which will be accessible to the public.
This will include the equivalent of the current CCMA commissioner training course in the form of a National Diploma in Labour Relations: Dispute Resolution and case management training by way of a National Certificate: Labour Relations Practice (Case Management Officer). This stands to make a dynamic contribution to professionalisation and skills development within the labour elations community in South Africa.