The Department of Labour (DoL) recently raised concerns over a potential rise in the number of labour unions in South Africa, as applications to form unions increase.

Over the past three years, union registration applications had reached an average of 140 a year and the department had, in recent years, rejected more than 540 applications as they had failed a verification test.

However, the number of registered trade unions had declined since reaching a peak in 2002, DoL deputy director-general of labour policy and industrial relations Les Kettledas said.

In 1995, South Africa had 248 registered trade unions, as defined by the Labour Relations Act, representing 2.7-million members. By 2002, the number had peaked at 504 unions with a membership of 4.1-million.

In June 2013, the country had 193 registered unions with a combined membership of 3.2-million.

Kettledas also noted that a 2012 analysis showed that 29% of employees in South Africa were reported to be union members, in line with countries in the Organi- sation for Economic Cooperation and Development and other large middle-income countries’ statistics.

As at June, South Africa had 22 trade union federations and 42 bargaining councils.

The country also had 164 regis- tered employer organisations, such as the Chamber of Mines, the Automobile Manufacturers Employers Organisation, the South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors and the Road Freight Association, as well as nine employer organisation federations.

Kettledas added that 11 Sectoral Determinations (SD) in South Africa also protected vulnerable workers in the agriculture, forestry, wholesale, retail and taxi industries, as well as children in the performing arts industry and domestic workers, besides others.

“The SD’s cover some 5.8-million workers, with the domestic worker sector accounting for some 1.1- million and the retail sector 1.9-million workers.”

The South African labour market is characterised by low levels of employment growth and persistent high unemployment, which currently stands at about 25%.

Kettledas is critical of the current adversarial labour relations climate, which is also leading to a marked rise in Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) disputes.

The CCMA last week reported a 25% rise in its case workload over the past five years.

CCMA executive director Nerine Kahn said the case workload in 2012 had escalated to an all-time high of 160 000 cases, which equated to over 13 000 cases a month, 3 333 cases a week or 667 cases a day.

“The unprecedented rise in the case load points to an antagonistic labour relations market, and this is worrying for stability in the labour market. The situation also indicates that the economic envi- ronment is becoming tough,” cautioned Kahn.

About 79% of the cases related to unfair dismissals, while 8% were unfair labour practice disputes. The commission’s dispute settlement rate increased from 69% in 2011 to 72% in 2012 and 73% this year.

The DoL aimed to assist in stabilising the volatile labour market through the facilitation of regular dispute monitoring by the CCMA; the development of a protocol for trade union membership verification; and the injection of more resources for trade union education, said Kettledas.