Bargaining council

[msmoorad]

i went to the dept of Labour with him & i explained the whole situation-they told my friend to open a case against his boss-then only can the dept intervene.
now, my friend is scared to do this as he says the boss can very easily NOT give him a bonus this year.

i asked about negligence-since there was no harness, safety helmets etc- they said the Bargaining Council is responsible for that-only if & when they issue a written notice saying they are handing over a case tothe Dept of Labour, can the dept intervene.

and it seems very unlikely cos when we went to the Bargaining Councils offie last week, the lady picked up the phone & contacted the bosses wife- from what i saw, they are on a first name basis-this makes me believe they wont do anything to jeopardise a contributing members company.

from what my friend says, the boss has 3 homes on one street-one of these homes is reserved for drinking & entertaining anyone who might be beneficial to him- this includes key people in big companies/projects who are in a position to award electrical work to any company-understand what im saying?

[Dave A]

Was waiting for someone to pick up on this aspect.

I expect we all see something different in this aspect though. Some see injustice. Some see abuse of the worker. Some see contravention of laws which place the "good" employer at a competitive disadvantage to the unscrupulous.

I see this as yet more evidence that collective agreements don't really change things on the ground. It just increases the overhead.
It certainly doesn't make bad employers into good employers, or "level the playing field".

[ericlowry]

Hi Dave,
I agree, do these parasites have any proof that the electrical contractor must belong to this lot. I have never seen or heard from them except when they want your money.
E

[Dave A]

There's a period from 1st Jan 2012 to end September 2012 where if you're a non-party to the collective agreement (ie. the employer is not a member of the ECA and the employee is not a member of SAEWA), it would seem the bargaining council had no legal authority over you. Also see Status of the NBCEI where this was discussed.

However things have changed again. The Minister of Labour has seen fit to extend the collective agreement to non-parties and we're all once again required to chip in effectively from 1st October 2012. I'm astounded that the Minister finds the parties as sufficiently representative to do so, but to contest it is going to need answers / information I just don't have at the moment.

[ians]

So you are saying i better register with them again but only have to back pay from the 1 october 2012?

[Dave A]

If they're not on your tail for any historical stuff prior to 31 December 2011, now might be a particularly good time to start with a clean slate, Ian

[ians]

I have a something in the pipe line which might require a few more staff members and i have a feeling i am gona have to sort my paper work to get the contract and with TB issue, it might just pay me to do the right thing. However, i am gona drag my feet as much as possible.

[natal21]

better latethan never

I have had the privilege of removing many a small contractor from this Bargaining Council. If you need assistance I will gladly come through to Benoni and assist you.

wondering if you would advise me i know this thread is old, but .... my father has just passed away and the business we both worked on has now fallen to me to run, it was a sole prop, and i am keeping the name and going sole prop as well, i personally do not want to join the bargaining council, but can't register wtih the ecb without it.

what do i do ?

[mellowredwc]

I also interested in how legal the Bargaining Councils are. Three of my small business owner clients are being hit hard by these fees. Is there any workaround?

One client who has seven full time employees could employ two additional entry level laborers with the money he has to pay to the BC each month. IMO this is just another way of finding employment for some fat cat bureaucrats.

[ACEsterhuizen]

I have successfully appealed and defended my case against these daylight robbery based on the following exclusions:

They wanted me to "register" as a sole owner one man show, even went as far to send me "warning" letters, "hearings" blah blah fishpaste.

I already belong to Solidarity, my current workers union, and they (assisted) defended my rights based on these exclusions.