Labour relations highlighted at Pro Beauty Network

Source- Professional Beauty

In the most interactive session ever seen at a Professional Beauty Network Breakfast event, 53 industry professionals gathered at Dylan’s Restaurant in Johannesburg on 14 July to hear the EOHCB (Employer’s Organisation for Hairdressing, Cosmetology & Beauty) and the National Bargaining Council speak about labour relations.

Mariska du Plessis, national beauty representative at the EOHCB, pointed out that the EOHCB is the only employer’s organisation with a seat on the Bargaining Council. “UASA - The Union, is the only union that represents employees on the Bargaining Council,” continued Du Plessis, who went on to emphasise that the EOHCB’s mission statement is to serve its members by providing top quality labour relations support.

“We want to create world class employers in the South African industry and we encourage excellence in standards,” she said.

Following Du Plessis’ presentation, in which she spoke in-depth about the EOHCB’s various activities within the industry such as educational workshops, Pria Uys, national legal manager for the National Bargaining Council, stressed that companies are by law required to be members of the Bargaining Council.

“We are the administrators of the industry and we make sure that companies adhere to the Collective Agreement,” stated Uys. “One of our key roles in the industry is dispute resolution between employees and employers. We are a regulatory body and we advise members, while always remaining completely neutral.”

She noted that there are a percentage of spas and salons that don’t belong to the Bargaining Council.

“It is our responsibility to identify these institutions and to recruit them. If you open up a salon in your home, you have to understand the lines that my designated agents can cross – they are entitled to enter your home if they can prove to me they have a reasonable suspicion that you are operating a salon in your home.

“However, we are not the monsters that some people in the industry think we are and you’d be surprised how many people and companies are compliant members of the Bargaining Council,” commented Uys.

Both Uys and Du Plessis fielded numerous questions from the floor, indicating the keen interest among attendees in labour relations. Also present at the event was Choert Maartens, divisional manager of the Southern Gauteng region of the EOHCB, who answered some of the questions.

(Report by Joanna Sterkowicz)