This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.
In our afternoon roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that appeared thus far on
Tuesday, 17 July 2018.
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Ramaphosa says after weekend tragedy that mine safety rules will be tightened up Reuters reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that SA would tighten its mine safety regulations to hold mine operators accountable for accidental deaths in the industry. Ramaphosa was responding to the latest tragedy to hit SA’s mines, namely the deaths of six workers on Sunday in an underground fire at a copper mine operated by Palabora Mining. A spate of deaths at Sibanye-Stillwater’s gold operations, including a seismic event that killed seven miners in early May, has highlighted the risks in SA’s deep and dangerous mines. "We are going to tighten up the regulations to ensure that those who run these mines must be accountable themselves because we cannot have so many deaths," said Ramaphosa, who had been general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) during apartheid. Ramaphosa noted that 54 miners had been killed in SA mines so far in 2018. Read this report by Ed Stoddard in full at BusinessLive. Read too, Cosatu calls for review of Mine Health and Safety Act, at Business Report. And also, Prosecute mine bosses for deaths of workers, says Numsa, at The Citizen 'My son died such a horrible death‚' mourns Palabora miner’s mother Timeslive reports that Limpopo police have released the names of the six mineworkers who were killed in an underground fire at the Palabora Mining Company in Phalaborwa over the weekend. Amongst them was 60-year-old Vula Mayindi, while the youngest in the group was Russel Ricardo Warne‚ aged 24. The others were named as Peter Selowa‚ 32; Kgotso Peter Sekgobela‚ 29; Lebogang Maake‚ 37; and 26-year-old Shaun Mashigo. The Sowetan wrote on Tuesday of the trauma of Mashigo's mother‚ Kedibone, at having to identify her son's charred remains. "I went to identify him and he was burnt beyond recognition. His face was unrecognisable. It's so painful to me that my son died such a horrible death," lamented Kedibone Mashigo. Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said that police were still investigating the deaths of the six. “The cause of this incident is still not clear at this stage‚ but the police investigations in conjunction with other role players‚ including the affected mine‚ will tell as they are still continuing‚” Ngoepe indicated. All but one of the mineworkers who were trapped underground at the copper mine died. Read this report by Naledi Shange in full at Timeslive. Read too, Mom identifies son’s charred body, at SowetanLive. And also, Limpopo mine fire: Victim’s family hurt by lack of transparency, at EWN Illiteracy of most locals at Amplats’ Mogalakwena mine make them unemployable The Sunday Independent reports that Anglo American Platinum’s Mogalakwena platinum mine in Limpopo says most local residents are unemployable because of illiteracy. Many young people in Ga-Molekana in Mokopane have complained about unemployment and lack of job opportunities at the mine and have also alleged that it preferred outsiders. But, the mine management has denied this, stating that they give first preference to locals. However, they point out that local people’s illiteracy levels make it difficult to absorb them. “Currently, 84% of Mogalakwena staff are locals while our contracting companies have 67% local employee representation. Despite the work being done, the scarcity of requisite skills and illiteracy levels remain a challenge,” spokesperson Mpumi Sithole indicated. In a bid to address the unemployment challenges, local communities in 2004 established a labour desk to enable residents to apply for vacant positions at the mine or its contracting companies. Sithole said that to date, the process has evolved, working in close collaboration with Mogalakwena mine. She advised that all entry-level permanent positions were reserved for locals who met the requirements of the vacant positions. The mine was working to complement that by continuing to implement a number of skills training and development initiatives through its social and labour plans. Read more of this Sunday Independent report by Karabo Ngoepe at SA Labour News. Read too, Matric, maths and science only to drive a truck, at SA Labour News
Fort Hare University calls off exams due to noise of Nehawu protest Timeslive reports that the University of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape has had to cancel what it had hoped would be the last leg of its mid-year examinations as they have been disrupted by ongoing wage protests. University spokesman Khotso Moabi said the university called off exams on Tuesday because of the disruption and noise caused by members of the National Education Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu)‚ who were picketing near the campus. "We are consulting SAPS on what would be an acceptable way for Nehawu to exercise their rights but allow the exams to proceed‚" said Moabi. Outside the university building‚ students held their own meeting. They were believed to be planning to ask university management to abandon the last leg of exams and "donate" marks to the students. A short report by Gugu Phandle is at Timeslive
Sactwu settles wage talks in General Goods and Handbags and in Tanning leather sectors The Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (Sactwu) has settled its wage negotiations for 2018 for the General Goods and Handbags and for the Tanning leather sectors, respectively. The union’s members in the General Goods and Handbags sector will receive an 8% wage increase and those in the Tanning sector will receive a 7.75% wage increase. Increases will apply retrospectively from 1 July 2018. Negotiations took place under the auspices of the National Bargaining Council for the Leather Manufacturing Industry and approximately 6,030 workers and their families will benefit from the settlements. Read Sactwu’s press statement in this regard at Cosatu News Energy experts reckon Eskom wage rise might force job cuts Sowetan reports that according to energy experts, cash-strapped Eskom might have to shed jobs to afford the 7.5% salary increase offer it has tabled to its three unions, which were due on Tuesday to give feedback on the latest offer. Energy expert Chris Yelland said the power utility was already having difficulties borrowing money because its debt levels and cost of debt were very high and there were no other options of raising money to cover the additional costs. He observed that job cuts were not something Eskom wanted to speak about in the middle of sensitive wage negotiations, but it had already said that it was significantly overstaffed and somehow it had to bring its cost items under control. Another expert, Ted Blom, said: “I don’t think Eskom has any option ... ultimately it has to do something about its productivity, which is one of the worst in the world.” The salary increase offer will shoot up Eskom’s annual remuneration bill by more than R1.3-billion, Blom indicated. Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe did not completely rule out job cuts, but said they were not being considered at the moment. He commented that Blom and Yelland were “100% correct” to say Eskom did not have money to fund salary increases, but went on to say: “So far, and so far is a key word on this one, the issue of job cuts is not on the table.” Read more of this Sowetan report by Isaac Mahlangu at SA Labour News
Numsa refers ArcelorMittal wage dispute to CCMA ANA reports that the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has lodged a dispute with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) against ArcelorMittal SA (Amsa) after a deadlock was reached in wage talks. The union is demanding an 11% wage increase across the board, a rise in the company’s rate of medical aid contributions from 60% to 80%, and a 1% increase in the provident fund contribution, amongst other items. Amsa has offered a 7.5% pay hike for the lowest paid worker, 6.5% for the highest paid, 6.3% for directors, 6% for management and a 6.5% increase in the company contribution to medical aid. The union said the company’s offer did not go far enough in addressing the immediate and pressing concerns of workers and their families. It warned it would embark on a strike if the company failed to address these “fundamental demands”. The CCMA hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. Read this report in full at The Citizen Sactwu declares national wage dispute in clothing manufacturing sector The Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (Sactwu) has declared a national wage dispute in the clothing sector as, after three rounds of negotiations, the parties failed to reach a wage settlement. Clothing employers have apparently made final offer of a 7% wage increase, which has been rejected. The union’s members are demanding an 8% package increase for metro areas and 8.5% for non-metro areas. Sactwu general secretary Andre Kriel indicated that the next step in the process was conciliation and the union had written to the National Bargaining Council for the Clothing Manufacturing Industry (NBC) for its general secretary to set up the conciliation in accordance with the council’s constitution. Kriel said that if clothing employers did not concede to the union’s final demands during conciliation, 60,000 clothing workers might embark on a wage strike. The clothing sector is the largest organised sector within the Cosatu affiliate. Read Sactwu’s press statement on this matter at Cosatu News
Municipal employers’ association Salga dodges deregistration ANA reports that the Department of Labour announced on Monday that the SA Local Government Association (Salga) had submitted the outstanding documents required to avoid deregistration. The department issued a notice of intention to cancel Salga’s registration on 15 June after the employers’ association failed to submit outstanding documents, including audited financial statements, names of office bearers, a business address and membership figures. The department said Salga had finally on 16 June submitted financial statements for the period from 2012 up to 2017, the names and business address of office bearers for the years 2011 to 2018 and membership figures per sector for the years 2012 to 2017, and had apologised for the delay. The association also indicated that it had implemented measures to prevent delays in transmitting information recurring. Read more of this report at SA Labour News. Read the Department of Labour’s press statement in this regard at DOL News
Saftu’s working class summit this weekend to focus on jobs and poverty BusinessLive reports that ahead of the jobs summit promised by President Cyril Ramaphosa, the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) has decided to convene a similar forum, bringing together 75 civil society organisations. Saftu maintains that the "working class summit", scheduled for this weekend in Johannesburg, is not meant to upstage the president’s planned initiative, but will complement it. The federation said the summit would explore workplace and community issues in an attempt to propose solutions to SA’s unemployment, inequality and poverty problems. Saftu was also planning to discuss trade union rights and the state of organised workers. While it has invited other trade union federations to attend, none have responded. In his state of the nation address in February, Ramaphosa undertook to convene a jobs summit following calls by trade unions for the government to create a platform where plans to deal with unemployment and inequality would be discussed. Read this report by Theto Mahlakoana in full at BusinessLive. Read Saftu’s press statement about the summit at Saftu News Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Computer coding course for deaf job seekers Sowetan reports that Nqobile Majola is one of 19 deaf students completing a gruelling coding course that will allow them to secure work after battling to find jobs. The 26-year-old from Pietermaritzburg is one of the top students in their first-ever coding class. The computer programming course is designed specifically to cater for the needs of deaf people by placing them in jobs after completion. The course is being provided by the Soweto-based Deaf Empowerment Firm (DEF) to teach the youth valuable computer programming skills that are in high demand in the IT industry. DEF founder Sikelelwa Msitshana said she had also battled to find employment after becoming deaf and this had opened her eyes to the challenges deaf people faced. “I had a thriving career in corporate development before I fell sick. No one would hire me after I became deaf. I knew that deaf people were just as capable of doing the work that hearing people can do,” Msitshana said. According to the SA Human Rights Commission, eight out of 10 people with disabilities are unemployed. Read more of this Sowetan report by Karabo Ledwaba at SA Labour News
Manyi applies for liquidation of Afro Voice, journalists left to fight for packages Sowetan reports that Mzwanele Manyi, owner of Afro Voice newspaper (formerly The New Age), which shut its doors last month leaving workers in limbo, has applied for the company's liquidation. He acquired the newspaper from the Guptas for R150m on a vendor-financing deal, but has indicated to the North Gauteng High Court that in a period of four months revenue declined from more than R5m to R255,650. In his affidavit, Manyi said Afrotone Media Holdings was commercially insolvent and there were no prospects of company rescue under prevailing circumstances. Meanwhile, Afro Voice journalists who were abruptly told not to come to work last month are still fighting to get their severance packages. An employee said on Monday that Manyi had withheld information regarding the liquidation and that they had only been notified a day before the closing date to make opposing submissions. Meantime, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) plans to join the liquidation hearing in court in the interest of Afro Voice employees. General secretary Aubrey Tshabalala said: “Under normal circumstances when you retrench a worker, there are packages. Those are the things we must go and argue for before the judge.” Read this report by Yoliswa Sobuwa & Peter Ramothwala in full at SowetanLive. Read too, ‘Zupta ties killed Afro Voice’, at The Star. And also, Concern as Afro Voice applies for liquidation, at The Star
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