Solidarity and the SAPS reach a settlement on promotions, affirmative action
31 July 2016
Solidarity and the South African Police Service (SAPS) on Friday reached a historic settlement that directly affect the promotion of more than 3 000 SAPS members. In terms of the settlement, the SAPS conceded that its current Employment Equity Plan has to be amended following the recent Constitutional Court ruling in the trade union’s case against the Department of Correctional Services (DCS).
This comes after Solidarity in April 2016 had obtained an urgent interdict in the Labour Court to halt the promotion of the 3 000 SAPS members until the Constitutional Court had given a ruling on the lawfulness of the DCS’s Employment Equity Plan.
According to Solidarity Chief Executive Dr Dirk Hermann, the settlement also stipulates that Solidarity’s more than 30 individual affirmative action cases against the SAPS would be investigated with a view to reaching a possible settlement.
“This settlement is a huge step forward for Solidarity and its members as it would offer our members and other members of minority groups a better opportunity to be promoted as would have been the case had the targets in the SAPS’s current Employment Equity been used as criterion for promotions,” Hermann said.
Earlier this year, the Labour Court had already found that the SAPS’s previous Employment Equity Plan (2010-2014) was unlawful and invalid as it imposed quotas. According to Hermann, the current promotions would have been made on the basis of a similar plan.
“It was critical for us to stop promotions based on a plan similar to one that had already been invalidated until a more equitable process could be negotiated. However, the settlement does not deprive us of the right to still lodge disputes on behalf of individuals who had been treated unfairly during the promotion process,” Hermann said.
Hermann added that under today’s settlement more than 300 individual grievances about non-promotion of Solidarity members on the basis of the previous unlawful plan would now also be handled with a view to reach a possible settlement.
Under the settlement, the SAPS also has undertaken to take into account Solidarity’s comments on the current plan and its proposals for amendment when amending the plan. “We are now also being recognised as a player as far as the implementation and monitoring of the plan is concerned,” Hermann added.
Statement issued by Anton van der Bijl, Head: Solidarity’s Centre for Fair Labour Practices, and Renate Barnard, Spokesperson: Solidarity’s Centre for Fair Labour Practices, 31 July 2016
