Social dialogue in the South-African furniture industries
From 19 to 25 January 2024, a TLS delegation consisting of Willem Plessen and Jan Cremers paid a working visit to South Africa at the invitation of the Bargaining Council for the Furniture Manufacturing Industry of the Western Cape. Plessen and Cremers provided a programme devoted to the prospects for sectoral collective bargaining.
In addition to their own introductions, they used a reader specially produced for the occasion, entitled Collective bargaining perspectives - The Dutch 'polder', Europe and the furniture industry.
The programme included several working visits to furniture factories, talks with individual members of the Council Board, an afternoon meeting with the tripartite South African Furniture Initiative, and two lively evening meetings, one with some 60 employer representatives and the second with some 50 trade union representatives. The latter meeting was also attended by a delegation from the Department of Labour. During a comprehensive evaluation, the hosts expressed satisfaction with the results. In particular, the extensive dialogues had led to useful new insights. The Council is elaborating the results in a forthcoming report.
