House Chairperson, with the ANC being the only organisation that came up with these amendments, and also having changed the old Labour Relations Act in the country in 1995, it supports the Bill.
The parties that made declarations here did not read the Bill correctly, vis--vis the principal Act. In regard to all that they said on strikes, strikes take place in terms of section 64 of the Labour Relations Act. There is a procedure that has to be followed. Those strikes are in terms of the law as a result of collective bargaining, which the labour legislation promotes.
If there is the argument that there have to be ballots before a strike takes place, our understanding is that trade unions are managed in terms of their constitutions, and the Labour Relations Act respects that. There are trade unions whose constitutions demand a ballot before a strike. There are also trade unions which demand that if a strike is a response to collective bargaining, the structures of those trade unions will take the decisions. And that is what is happening.
Regarding the issue of the amendments from the NCOP, Cope made reference to clauses 9(c) and (d). Those are very clear, and I like the argument that has been advanced by Cope that a court of law can make decisions on anything that has been referred to such a court for it to make a decision. There is no need for clauses 9(c) and (d) because, if one looks at clause 9(d), it refers to replacement labour, which is taken care of in section 76 of the Labour Relations Act. Therefore, you cannot try to repeat what is in section 76 under section 69, which deals with picketing.
The ANC supports the Bill. [Applause.]