Bargaining Council for the Building Industry (Cape of Good

Hope)

Brief History
The Building Industry Bargaining Council (BIBC) has been operating for more than
80 years. It originated in the 1920s under the Inspector of Labour as The Cape
Peninsula Building Trade Joint Board and had as its logo Fair wages and
Conditions. In October 1925, the Board was converted to The Local and District
Committee of the National Industry Council of the Building Industry of South Africa.
In 1995, the Labour Relations Act created a new legislative framework and renamed
Industrial Councils as Bargaining Councils.

Introduction
Bargaining councils currently operate in terms of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) of
1995, although majority were established as industrial councils under the
predecessor act, and the Industrial Conciliation Act. Bargaining councils are
established when employer and employee bodies (unions) in a particular industrial
sector and geographical area agree to come together to engage in collective
bargaining. The employer associations and unions that agree to do so are referred to
as parties to the bargaining council and constitute the bargaining partners once the
council is established. In order to be registered for these purposes by the
Department of Labour, the parties must prove that they are sufficiently
representative. In particular, they must prove that the unions proposed as party to
the council have more than 50% of employees in the specified sector as members.
Once registered, a bargaining council has a range of powers and obligations.
Amongst its powers, are those relating to establishment of social benefit funds. Thus
section 28 of the LRA gives registered councils the power to establish and
administer pension, provident, medical aid, sick pay, holiday, unemployment and
training schemes or funds or any other schemes or funds for the benefit of one or
more of the parties to the bargaining council or their members. Amongst the

obligations imposed on bargaining councils is the requirement that they report each
year to the Registrar of Labour Relations.

Legality of its existence

The BIBC (Cape of Good hope) is a sector and area specific Bargaining Council
created in the terms of the Labour Relations Act (1995).The Labour Relations Act
(LRA) provides that employer and employee representative organisations within an
industry or area can enter into collective agreements covering any area of mutual
interest and if they are sufficiently representative of the industry , the parties can
approach the Minister of Labour to gazette these agreements and extend them to
bind nonparties as well. The collective Agreement is generally negotiated between
the parties every three years and once signed is gazetted by the minister with effect
from 01 November applicable year .Thereafter ,all persons engaged in the building
industry Bargaining Council (BIBC) are legally obliged to comply with the terms of
the collective agreements or not. Although the BIBC is a creative statue, it is not
sponsored by the State and it is funded by levies paid equally by employers and
employees.

Area of jurisdiction
The area of jurisdiction covers an area of approximately 4000sq km extending from
Pearly Beach in the Overstrand along the Hottentots Mountains to Riebeeck West
and westwards to Yzerfontain. The area includes the entire Peninsula. In this area
any person engaged in building activities s legally obliged to be registered with the
BIBC and to comply with the collective agreement. Currently there are approximately
2800 employers and 40.000 employees active in the building industry in this area.
The BIBC consist of 20 part-time councillors (including a Chairman and Deputy
Chaimen) who meet monthly. Employers and employee organizations have equal
representation on the Council. There is a Secretary/CEO and staff of approximately
88 people.

Duties of a Bargaining Council

The Building Industry Bargaining Council (BIBC), is responsible for regulating and
monitoring employment conditions in the building industry in the Cape Peninsula,
Boland, Malmesbury and Overstrand areas. By law, all building and building related
contractors (i.e. painters, plumbers, etc.) must pay their employees the minimum
rates as prescribed and contribute to certain minimum employee benefits. These
employment conditions are gazetted in the Collective Agreement by the minister of
Labour and such becomes a law.
Today, the BIBCs four essential functions are:
To offer a forum to negotiate a collective agreement between employer and
employee representative organizations on an annual basis.
To administer the collective agreement entered into between employer and
employee representative bodies in the building industry. The agreement
covers standard terms and conditions of employment e.g. rates of pay,
benefits, holidays etc.
To resolve labour disputes in the building industry rather than referring them to
the CCMA.
To administer social benefit funds for employees (e.g. retirement, medical aid,
sick pay and holiday pay).

Registration of employers
Every employer in the industry to whom the BIBC agreement applies must register
with the Council within 14 (fourteen) days of operating within the scope of the
agreement.
a) An employer shall register with the Council by furnishing the required
particulars to the Council on the prescribed form and shall warrant
thereon that application has been made for registration with the South
African Revenue Services for employee tax and value-added tax (if
applicable), registration with the Unemployment Insurance Fund and
registration under the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and
Diseases Act.
b) The council may refuse to register any person or legal entity as an
employer if such employer or entity consists of substantially the same

person or persons as a previously registered person or entity and there

remains a debt due to the Council by the previously registered person
or entity. Where the Council agrees to such a registration, the
registration shall be subjected to that person providing a wage
guarantee equal to not less than 10 general workers employment for
three months.
Every employer shall notify the Council in writing of any change in the particulars
furnished on registration or of ceasing operations in the Industry within 14 days of
such change or of ceasing operations. A certificate of registration signed by either
the chairman or the Secretary of the Council shall be issued to each employer
registered. An employer who does not pay to the Council the levies and contributions
payable by him and his employees each week within the period determined by the
Council as defined in Clause 4 of the Agreement, Shall pay interest to the Council at
the prime bank rate charged by the Councils bank plus 2%, calculated from the due
date of payment.
An employer shall keep employee records as prescribed by Chapter 4 of the Basic
Conditions Employment Act, 1997, and clause 10 and 12 of this Agreement. The
Council shall keep a register of registered and compliant employers and registered
and non-compliant employers which shall be generally made known and be available
to other employers on request.
A newly registered employer shall be entitled to receive from the Council free
orientation training on employment legislation, this Agreement and the preparation of
wage records.

Registration of Employees
All persons employed in the Building Industry shall be registered with the Council
and each employee and the employer of such employee shall be jointly responsible

for the registration of the employee, including apprentices and learners, with the
council within 20 working days of commencement of employment.
The Council shall issue to each registered employee a Bargaining Council identity
card and the employee shall be required to retain that card at all times whilst
engaged in work in the Building Industry. The Council shall bear the initial costs of
the Bargaining Council identity card, but the employee shall be liable for the costs of
the replacement of any identity card.
Learnership: A registered employer or an employers organisation acting in terms of
a group scheme may employ a person as a learner under a contract of Learnership
in accordance with the Skills Development Act, 1998, and the Council shall register
person as a learner subject to the following terms and conditions:
a) The person has first been registered as a learner by the Construction
Education Training Authority (CETA)
b) The learner shall be entitled to perform work in a designated trade only once
the council has received from the CETA a valid certificate of registration for
the learner in respect such trade.
c) For purpose of his Learnership, the learner shall be entitled to undergo
training with his employer or under the authority of any accredited training
institution.
d) Upon successful completion by the learner of the necessary group of credits
in respect of a course of training as provided for, the Council shall re-register
the learner in the appropriate tradesman category.
e) A learner shall be entitled to the payment of wages in accordance with the
wage prescribed in terms of clause 9 of the Agreement, in respect to the
category of tradesman in which he is registered from time to time.

Bargaining Council and the CCMA

Bargaining Councils are joint employer and union bargaining institutions whose
functions and powers are set out in the LRA. One of the LRAs main objectives is to

promote

collective

bargaining

as

means

of

regulating

relations

between

management and labour and as means of settling disputes between them. A

Bargaining Council has the responsibility to resolve disputes between parties that
arise from the collective agreements concluded in the council and other statutory
instruments.
Bargaining Council agreements deal with issues such as minimum wages, hours of
work, overtime, leave pay, notice periods, and retrenchment pay. A bargaining
council does not need to be accredited with the CCMA to perform dispute resolution
services regarding parties to that council. According to Brand (2002) if a bargaining
council applies to the CCMA for accreditation the CCMA may, as a term of
accreditation, give council conciliators similar powers to CCMA conciliators. There
are currently about 55 Bargaining Councils in South Africa. Their jurisdiction may be
sectoral, regional or industry wide and hence they vary in size and quality of dispute
resolution. One of the main criticisms aimed at bargaining councils is that they are
fragmented in nature and poorly resourced.
The CCMA has the power to licence Private Agencies and Bargaining Councils to
perform any or all of its functions. This allows parties in dispute the choice of which
institutions to assist them although the Bargaining Council where it exists for parties
is always the first institution of engagement and if there is no Bargaining council then
the CCMA has jurisdiction.

References

1. International Labour Organisation. Available online at

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/ifpdial/llg/index.htm (date
accessed 20 March 2016).
2. The Bargain Council for the Building Industry (Cape of Good
Hope). Available online at http://www.BIBC.co.za/index.php? (date
accessed 01 April 2016).
3. No. R.164. Government Gazette. (2014). Labour Relations Act,
1995. Employer and employee registration.
4. Brand, J. (2002). "Bargaining Council Dispute Resolution under the
LRA as Amended," Industrial Law Journal, 23 (10-12) 1737.
5. Brand, J. (2000). "CCMA: Achievements and Challenges- Lessons
from the First Three Years," Industrial Law Journal, 21(1-3).