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
Monday, 13 August 2018.
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Untu members accept wage deal to end two-week Gautrain wage strike Fin24 reports that the United National Transport Union (Untu) has concluded a wage deal with the Bombela Operating Company (BOC), which runs the Gautrain, ending a two-week long wage strike. Union officials told a mass meeting at the Gautrain Midrand Depot on Monday that they had agreed to an 8% hike in basic wages across the board, following marathon meetings over the weekend involving two senior CCMA commissioners as well as Dennis George, general secretary of Untu’s affiliated federation, Fedusa. In addition to the 8% wage hike, the basic salaries of the lowest level employees will be increased to a minimum of R8,500 per month. The housing allowance will be increased to R900 per month, while the other allowances will be increased by 8%. Members will received a R5,000 incentive bonus in December 2018. A second incentive payment up to a maximum of R5,000, as determined on the performance of the Gautrain, will be paid out in September next year. During the strike there was only limited rail service during peak periods. It was not immediately clear when normal train services would resume. Read this report by Tehillah Nisselow in full at Fin24. . Read too, Gautrain strike over after workers accept 8% wage offer, at Engineering News. Read Untu’s press statement at SA Labour News
Benoni security guard shot in the chest, in critical condition ANA reports that on Monday a 32-year-old security guard was fighting for his life in hospital after he was shot in the chest while on night duty in Benoni on the East Rand. Netcare 911 spokesperson Shawn Herbst said paramedics responded on Sunday to reports of a shooting near the Apex railway station on Wolverhampton street, Benoni, where they found a male security guard who had sustained a single gunshot wound to his chest. He was airlifted to Union hospital, where his condition remained critical. Events leading up to the shooting are not yet known and police are investigating. A short report is at The Citizen Incapacity leave at KZN department of health of 5,007 days in five months The Citizen reports that a reply to questions by the Democratic Alliance in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) legislature has revealed that 85 staff members within the provincial department of health amassed a staggering 5,007 days of various forms of incapacity leave during just the past five months. The figures relate to the period April to August 2018. According to KZN health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo’s reply, 79 staff had been on temporary incapacity leave for a period exceeding 30 days, with a combined total of 4,107 days off. Six staff members had been on permanent incapacity leave for 90 days in total. They were paid combined salaries of close to R2 million. The DA’s Dr Imran Keeka said on Sunday that he was “stunned by this revelation”. He said the high absenteeism was “no doubt one of the biggest contributors to the failing healthcare system in our province” and added that it was not acceptable that Dhlomo continued to cite staff shortages as an excuse. “The problem is not that there aren’t enough staff – it is the fact that so many of them aren’t at work,” Keeka opined. Despite the DA’s request for the reasons for the absences, the department failed to provide this information. Nor were the number of days off per individual provided. Read this report in full at The Citizen. Read the DA’s press statement in this regard at Politicsweb
Eskom wants an ‘expeditious’ wage deal, but vows to take action against striking workers ANA reports that Eskom on Monday vowed to take disciplinary action against its employees who had embarked on industrial action and damaged infrastructure even as the power utility and unions failed to reach an agreement in protracted wage negotiations. The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) last week threatened to go on a massive strike at Eskom over the wage dispute, saying the entity was negotiating in bad faith. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), said it would only sign a deal if Eskom removed the precondition of disciplinary action. But Eskom has not relented, indicating in a statement that those employees who had engaged in potentially criminal acts of destruction of property and sabotage were now outside the company’s jurisdiction and in the hands of the police. Furthermore, employees who had participated in unlawful action would be subjected to disciplinary hearings. “Eskom indicated that it remained committed to concluding the wage negotiations expeditiously and “advised the unions to sign the wage agreement so as not to further prejudice Eskom employees who await their salary adjustments.” The unions have requested a meeting with the minister of public enterprises Pravin Gordhan to try and break the deadlock, saying they would not resume talks with Eskom without the meeting. Read this report in full at The Citizen. Read Eskom press statement in full at Eskom News
Samwu blames jobs-for-pals for ongoing Pikitup protests in Joburg The Sunday Independent reports that the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) has blamed misconduct and a jobs-for-pals syndicate at the Johannesburg city council for the ongoing protests by former Pikitup workers. Hundreds of former workers who were employed as contractors between 2010 and 2011 picketed outside the Pikitup Selby Depot entrance last week to demand their jobs back. Their contracts were terminated in 2011. The former employees claimed they were promised permanent employment, but the company refused to retain them because of a jobs-for-pals scheme. They alleged that 2,800 workers from outside Gauteng were hired instead. Samwu’s Bafana Zungu said the jobs-for-pals syndrome was conducted by those in the HR department under the city manager’s supervision. He also alleged that the mayor, Herman Mashaba, was implicated and so could not play an oversight role in resolving the matter. Pikitup’s Muzi Mkhwanazi rubbished the claims. Meanwhile, the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) has demanded that the insourcing and absorption of former workers be ceased immediately as the requirements and process of a collective agreement were not being honoured. Imatu’s Mark-Lee Gericke said they would ensure the agreement was honoured by all parties and that they did not necessarily support the protesters. “If the protesters should be considered for absorption and insourcing then that aspect will be enforced through the agreement,” he indicated. Read this report by Manyane Manyane in full at The Sunday Independent
Cosatu threatens ANC over alleged government plan to cut public sector jobs Fin24 reports that Cosatu has given government an ultimatum to stop discussing the fate of public servants unilaterally or risk losing the ANC-allied labour federation’s support at next year’s general election. Cosatu's spokesperson Sizwe Pamla was speaking on a SAfm show on Monday morning ahead of the trade union federation's central executive committee (CEC) meeting this week. His remarks came in the context of reports, first published by the Mail & Guardian, that government was considering cutting 30,000 jobs in the public service to save about R20bn. When asked about Cosatu’s view on the reports, Pamla said: “We are not going to allow government to implement retrenchments in the public service. Simple as that." He indicated that neither government nor the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) had consulted workers about this. Minister of Public Service and Administration, Ayanda Dlodlo, said on Friday that there was no plan to lay off public servants en masse. Yet, DPSA spokesperson Mava Scott admitted that in the long-term government would have to consider the means to curb the growing headcount of the public service and said that this was unavoidable. “We have to come to a point where we engage employees, especially in the non-core, to consider severance packages or an early retirement. You must engage them, but it must be done in a proper process that includes the unions,” Scott said. Read this report by Khulekani Magubane in full at Fin24. See too, Dlodlo says no plan to cut jobs in public sector, at EWN Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Temporary teachers in Limpopo unpaid since assuming duty in June The Citizen reports temporary teachers in Limpopo who assumed their duties at the start of June have seemingly gone unpaid due to the department of education’s ‘heavy workload’. The affected number of ad hoc teachers who received their appointment letters is not known, as the department does not want to elaborate upon the issue. However, the Bosveld Review reports that a few local calls revealed that ad hoc teachers working at least four schools in Limpopo were affected. The teachers have been struggling to scrape money together for transport, accommodation and food, as well as paying their bills, vehicles and medical aid scheme fees. Fortunately, some schools have been in the position to assist the ad hoc teachers with basic necessities to survive. Schools and affected teachers have contacted several officials of the department to assist the temporary teachers, but without success so far. Sam Makondo, spokesperson for the department of education, said appointments of teachers were handled by district offices and the head office would only react once problems arose. He added that the matter had been resolved and officials were working overtime to see to it that ad hoc teachers would receive their outstanding salaries by the end of August. He attributed the problem to a ‘system glitch’. Read this report by Nelie Erasmus in full at The Citizen Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Crew of crashed Wonderboom plane ‘weren’t qualified’, preliminary report finds The Citizen reports that the vintage Convair 340/440aircraft that crashed at Wonderboom Airport, Pretoria North, in July had an unqualified crew on board. This is according to the SA Civil Aviation Authority’s (Sacaa’s) preliminary report on the crash. The crash claimed two lives. Sacaa found that the 65-year-old captain, with more than 18,240 hours’ flying time, had valid Australian air transport, commercial and private licences and was rated to fly the aircraft. “However, the validation issued by Sacaa was for a Private Pilot Licence under visual flight rules (VFR), which was valid until May 5, 2021,” the report indicated. It went on to state that the first officer was not rated to fly the Convair, and was only validated locally to various “single engine landing” aircraft. The report also found the South African aircraft mechanic who was not part of the crew, according to the aircraft flight manual, and was not rated on the aircraft as a pilot, had been operating the engine controls. The mechanic died in the crash, while another person was killed on the ground when the plane impacted. Aviation expert Karl Jenson strongly repudiated the report’s preliminary finding that the Convair co-pilot was not licensed. The investigation is ongoing. Read this report by Amanda Watson in full at The Citizen
Samwumed medical aid scheme alleged to have become a ‘slush fund’ for curator BusinessLive reports that the 13 dismissed trustees of a medical aid scheme for unionised municipal workers, Samwumed, are contesting the curatorship order on the scheme. Some of its members have also raised concerns over the provisional curator’s suspension of four of its senior employees. However, Duduza Khosana, provisional curator of Cape Town-headquartered Samwumed, which covers more than 80,000 lives, said last week she had uncovered irregularities, which she had reported to the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) and would also report to the Western Cape high court which had appointed her at the beginning of May. The allegations against Khosana, who is based in Gauteng, are that she is paying herself R240,000 a month and incurring expenses of R200,000 a month — such as flights, accommodation and car hire – for a hefty R5.3m bill a year to the scheme. Khosana, who was the principal officer of Medshield before that scheme was put under curatorship in 2013, denies she is earning this amount, but would not disclose what she was earning. Samwumed collects contributions of more than R1bn a year and had R1bn in reserves at the end of 2016. The CMS applied for the appointment of a curator this year as conflict in the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) had, it argued, rendered the board of trustees dysfunctional. Read this report by Laura du Preez in full at BusinessLive
CEO of civil engineering body commits to diversity training over 'antagonistic' column Fin24 reports that the CEO of the SA Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE), Manglin Pillay, has apologised “unreservedly” for his article published in the institution's official magazine that questioned the place of women in the engineering field. He indicated that he would also undergo diversity training. In his article, Pillay inferred that women preferred not to occupy high-profile executive posts, dedicating themselves to "more important enterprises, like family and raising children, [rather] than to be at the beck and call of shareholders". In his apology, Pillay unreservedly apologised “for (being) antagonistic and offending so many people with my article published in the July 2018 edition of Civil Engineering.” Last Wednesday, the SAICE board said that Pillay would stay on in position as CEO notwithstanding calls for him to step down by women’s engineering advocacy group WomENG and others. The board said Pillay’s valuable contribution to SAICE over eight years was considered in the decision to have him stay on in his position. It added that SAICE was committed to establishing an inclusive team to “intensify existing initiatives” addressing gender and diversity issues within the sector. Read this report by Lameez Omarjee in full at Fin24. Read too, Top engineer Manglin Pillay apologises for sexist article, at Timeslive
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