To date these two Levy Agreements have been duly submitted to the Department of Labour for processing and once the Minister of Labour has complied with the various provisions contained in the Labour Relations Act, it is anticipated that the two Agreements will be Gazetted and be made legally binding on all employers and employees in the industry.
The two Agreement are due to expire at the end of March 2015. Members are advised that due to the late referral of the two Agreements to the Department of Labour and the legal and unavoidable obligation on the part of the Minister of Labour to comply with the new provisions of the amended Labour Relations Act ( i.e. when it comes to Gazetting and extending Collective Agreements to an industry), the Bargaining Council does not anticipate a seamless and uninterrupted continuation of the two levies once the current Agreements expire on 31 March 2015. In this regards we understand that that the Council is doing everything possible within its powers to ensure that the anticipated hiatus period is kept to as short a period as possible.
Notwithstanding this, the Council will be duty bound to inform industry that during the anticipated hiatus period no employer and employee will be legally obliged to make any contributions to the Council for services rendered in respect of the two levies which will lapse on the 31 March 2015.
It is nevertheless expected that during this anticipated hiatus period (or period of interrupted continuity) the bargaining council will not stop in continuing to meet its mandate in servicing both employers and employees in industry for services that would under normal circumstances be funded by the monies collected from these two levies.
We understand that the Council is pressing for the Gazettal of these two Agreements to take place as soon as is legally and practicably possible.
Accordingly it is recommended to members that during this hiatus period the situation with regards to the expiry of the two agreements be communicated to all affected staff, that no further deductions are made in respect of both agreements and that deductions in respect of both agreements only recommence once official confirmations to do so is received from the MEIBC.
Please do not hesitate to contact the staff of the SEIFSA Industrial Relations Division on (011) 298 9400 should you require any further explanation or clarification herein.
