Boatbuilding stakeholders this month expressed mixed feelings about mandatory employment quotas for companies with fifty or more staff, effective from September 1.
The controversial Employment Equity Amendment Act, which still faces a legal challenge, sets sectoral numerical targets for ‘designated groups’ including women, people with disabilities, and various previously disadvantaged race groups. In terms of new EE regulations, affected
companies must submit regular EE reports detailing progress with meeting EE targets.
The new regulations form part of the SA government’s push for more workplace transformation, with tougher potential penalties for non-compliant companies. The regulations are likely to
mostly affect companies wishing to do business with government, and which now need to prove compliance – or compelling reasons for non-compliance – in order to qualify for state contracts.
Boatbuilding stakeholders this week said the new regulations were unlikely to impact local yards as most were already largely compliant. “We already comply, so I don’t think we will be affected too much,” commented one Cape Town yard manager. “Most of our (workplace) demographic are the people who live around here.”
Another yard manager said the new regulations should not be a substitute for quality workmanship: “We have been doing the EE stuff for few years in any case.”
“Our policy is we employ people on skills and ability to build export yachts that have valid work permits.”
Another yard manager referred to a press release issued by the National Employers’ Association of South African, which believes the new Act is ‘deeply flawed’. “The Minister (of Labour) set irrational and arbitrary quotas that do not take into account the nature, circumstances and challenges of each sector,” NEASA said in the press
release. “No consideration was given to the pool of skills available in each sector, the natural gender disparity in certain sectors, or the difference in racial demographics across provinces in South Africa.”