Strengthening labour standards enforcement mechanisms to ensure social justice for employees

In 2008, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) adopted the Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization. The Declaration is based on four equally important strategic objectives relevant to our purposes the promotion of social dialogue through the building of effective labour inspection systems. The setting of such labour standards has been ongoing for over a century in the area of labour inspection at the international level. By virtue of its ILO membership, South Africa is duty-bound to adopt similar laws to set labour standards. Such standards which determine labour inspection’s jurisdiction fall under four broad categories, i.e. Basic Conditions of Employment, Employment Equity, Occupational Health and Safety and Compensation for Occupational Injuries, for which labour inspectors must monitor and ensure compliance. Non-compliance with legislation and regulations is said to be rife in developing countries. This is supported by the Department of Labour Department’s inspector report, which underlines non-compliance with labour standards which this paper views as a deterring factor to achieving social justice. In the South African context, sanctions such as fines and or prison sentences are the legislative enforcement mechanism. Notwithstanding these harsh measures, there is a reported non-compliance from employers. In order to ensure more compliance, this paper suggests that other preventive enforcement mechanisms be envisaged, such as criminal and administrative penalties that affect the vital economic interests of the company, i.e. withdrawing the eligibility of the company to participate in public tenders or subsidies and closing down the company temporarily or permanently. Key Words:Labour standards, labour inspections, compliance, non-compliance, enforcement