1. Page 1
OPENING ADDRESS AT THE 5TH ANNUAL SHOP STEWARD
CONFERENCE – INDABA HOTEL JOHANNESBURG
25 February 2015,
By Magate Phala – Chairperson
Introduction
Good Morning, ladies and gentlemen. First of all, I would like to extend a sincere
welcome to all of you joining us today for the 5th Annual Shop Steward Conference
hosted by the Intelligence Transfer Centre.
My dear participants of this three-day Conference: On behalf of the Intelligence
Transfer Centre, the Organiser and Sponsor of this event, I welcome all of you and in
particular I would like to acknowledge the presence of our Keynote Speaker,
Honourable Deputy Minister of Labour, Nkosi Sango Patekile Holomisa.
The Role of Trade Unions
The theme of this year’s conference “Reaching Collaboration through Strong
Leadership between the Employer and Workforce” is very timely and pertinent to the
current labour relations climate in the country as well as the role played by the trade
unions.
Trade unionism is a means for workers to liberate themselves from poverty and
social exclusion. Workers use trade unions as their representative voice to demand

2. Page 2
their rights and improve their living and working conditions. The formation of trade
unions was a reaction against the mechanisms of pauperisation, notably: low pay,
long working hours, child labour and generally appalling working conditions. And so
trade unionism has always been about eradicating poverty1
.
Trade unions are considered as organisations only struggling to secure benefits for
their members, such as financial gains like rise of wages, bonuses, various
allowances insurance benefits, overtime payment and non-financial benefits such as
job security, comfortable work place recreational facilities and decreasing fear of
employer through collective bargaining. However, several studies have shown that
unions have gone beyond collective bargaining and played a role in the environment,
energy management, politics and policy making, public health, productivity and
efficiency improvement as well as playing a social role in poverty alleviation and
disaster relief2
.
Professor Paul Benjamin3
held that “a survey of collective bargaining during 2010
(Grawitzky, 2011) also concluded that there is an increasing lack of trust in the
workplace in both the public and private sector “with no real dialogue happening on
the shop-floor between line management and employees on how to influence
business outcomes. The LRA’s vision was that Workplace forums would serve as
vehicles for developing long-term co-operative dialogue between employers and
1
ILO Conclusions - International Workers’ Symposium on “The Role of Trade Unions in the
Global Economy and the Fight against Poverty” Geneva, 17th – 21st October 2005
2
Dr. Muhammad Tariq Khan – paper “ROLE OF LABOR UNIONS BEYOND COLLECTIVE
BARGAINING”
3
Professor Paul Benjamin, Working Paper No. 47 ILO (April 2013) ““Assessing South
Africa’s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA)” on page 30

3. Page 3
trade unions, thus reducing the level of adversarialism in collective bargaining. This
is still a work in progress, given trade unions have rejected the workplace forum
route and distributive collective bargaining remains the primary mode of interaction.
According to John Brand4
“In this country and elsewhere, some unions and
employers have found that the most effective way to advance their interests and at
the same time to avoid unnecessary strike action is to participate in a sophisticated
mutual gain negotiation. To do this they both need to accept the pluralist idea of
partnership between legitimate entities with divergent interests in a constitutional
democracy. In compliance with their commitment to good faith bargaining, the
combined union and employer negotiating team undergo joint training in modern
negotiation theory and practice. In certain instances employers have undergone this
training without their union counterparts doing likewise, and they have found it very
difficult to achieve optimum outcomes if their union counterparts do not have similar
knowledge and skill. If both parties are exposed to the fact that in reality it is possible
to achieve outcomes which are of greater value to both parties than the win/lose
outcomes or compromises which typically result from traditional adversarial
negotiation, then it is far easier to achieve optimum outcomes.
From the ILO perspective5
, collective bargaining is an important way for workers,
employers and their organizations to reach agreement on issues related to
employment. Collective bargaining can be an important means for building trust. This
4
John Brand - STRIKE AVOIDANCE – HOW TO DEVELOP AN EFFECTIVE STRIKE
AVOIDANCE STRATEGY (23rd Annual Labour Law Conference –August 2010)
5
ILO Convention on promoting Collective Bargaining, 1981 (No. 154)

4. Page 4
trust can be reinforced through dialogue which continues after bargaining has ended.
Solutions that are built on trust and enjoy the genuine support of both sides are more
likely to be respected. This is due to the sense of participation and ownership
inherent in the process. As a result, unnecessary disputes, and disruptions through
industrial action, can more easily be avoided.
Conclusion
I am hopeful that this conference will be fruitful and of great value. Let me also
emphasise the fact that this is an open discussion and interactive session. You are
all encouraged to actively participate. There will be an opportunity for asking
questions and making inputs at the end of each speaker’s presentation.
Thank you very much for your attendance.