Today's Labour News

MINING LABOUR

Sibanye Gold faces Amcu strike over wage demand

Bloomberg reports that Sibanye Gold faces the prospect of a strike after the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) demanded a better wage offer for its members.  “Amcu has decided to go on strike,” the union said on its unverified Twitter feed, adding that Sibanye would be given 48 hours to come back with a better offer.  Amcu received permission to strike at Sibanye in September after talks deadlocked.  On 14 November 2018, the gold producer signed three-year wage agreements with the National Union of Mineworkers, Solidarity and Uasa, ending months of negotiations that started in July.  It raised the basic wage for most categories of surface and underground employees by R700 a month in each of the first two years and by R825 rand in the third year, while the housing allowance and medical benefits were also increased.

Read the full original report by Paul Burkhardt at Fin24

Amcu's Christmas wage strike at Sibanye 'will hurt workers who won't be paid'

TimesLive reports that precious metals producer Sibanye-Stillwater on Monday confirmed it had received a strike notice from the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).  The strike is set to start at the company's SA gold operations from the evening shift of Wednesday, 21 November 2018.  Sibanye-Stillwater employs about 32,200 people at its SA gold operations, with Amcu representing about 43% of employees in the bargaining unit.  A three-year wage agreement was struck last week between Sibanye-Stillwater and the other representative unions at its operations, namely the National Union of Mineworkers, Solidarity and Uasa.  On Monday, Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman, commenting on notification from Amcu, said the planned strike was disappointing.  The company had engaged with Amcu representatives since June, he indicated.  "The agreement we reached with the other unions is fair and final and considers the current challenges facing our gold operations.  The fact that Amcu's national leadership is willing to take its members out on strike ahead of the December holiday period is very unfortunate and irresponsible, given the financial consequences a strike will have on our employees and their families,” said Froneman.  He also indicated that the offer accepted by the other unions was being implemented across the gold operations, and all employees, including Amcu members.

Read the full original of this report at TimesLive

REMUNERATION / SALARY INCREASES

Ramaphosa due to decide this week on 4% salary hike for public office bearers

ANA reports that the Independent Commission for Remuneration of Public Office Bearers has recommended to President Cyril Ramaphosa that all politicians from councillors up to the head of state receive a 4% salary hike.  The increase will be backdated to April this year if approved.  Judicial officers, including judges and magistrates as well as traditional leaders, will also get the same rise.  Head of the commission’s secretariat, Peter Makapan, said on Saturday that a meeting with Ramaphosa was scheduled for this week and it would be clear then whether or not the recommendation was acceptable.  The commission has recommended a salary increase of nearly R120,000 a year for Ramaphosa, which would take his annual pay from almost R3 million to above R3.1m.  Cosatu has called the proposal scandalous.  Spokesman Sizwe Pamla said it was shocking that the commission could recommend salary increases for the elite while there were moves to cut thousands of public service jobs and looming retrenchments at state-owned entities such as the SABC, Telkom and Eskom.  “We expect President Ramaphosa not just to reject the recommendations but to scold these people (the commission),” he said.

Read the full original report by Loyiso Sidimba at IOL News

Unpaid Gauteng contract workers doing work at Shoprite stores stranded in Western Cape

SowetanLive reports that some 40 Gauteng persons are starving and trapped in the Western Cape with no money to return home after working for three months without pay.  They were recruited by A Tracker to install energy-saving LED lights at Shoprite stores in August.  The workers have since lodged a complaint with the Department of Labour against Abram Dube, who owns A Tracker.  This was after they worked at the retail outlets in different parts of the province, including Paarl and Vredenburg.  A letter of appointment stated that each worker would earn about R8,000 monthly for installing 40 LED lights a day.  But the workers were never paid and survived by sharing food and getting handouts from sympathetic locals.  Siphiwe Khumalo, who is still in Vredenburg, said some people managed to get money to travel home to Gauteng, but others were still trapped there.  A letter from the Department of Labour shows that the complaint laid by the workers was referred to the Boksburg labour centre in Ekurhuleni for investigation.  The Shoprite Group confirmed it was working on a large LED retrofit rollout project.  But they had no direct link to the hiring of staff for the project as it was managed by Kedah Synergy Corporation, which had subcontracted Dube's company.  On Sunday, Dube claimed the company had managed to secure some funding to cover operational expenses and salaries until October.

Read the full original of the report by Zoë Mahopo at SowetanLive

CONTRIBUTIONS TO EMPLOYEE FUNDS

West Rand: Samwu not backing down over non-payment of employee contributions to third parties

The Sunday Independent reported on Sunday that the West Rand District Municipality was still locked in a stalemate with the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) over non-payment to third parties of contributions in respect of employees.  The municipality failed to contribute to workers’ medical aid and provident funds for three months after officials invested over R70-million in the now liquidated VBS Mutual Bank.  Samwu regional secretary Siseko Siyothula observed that the VBS investment was none of their business and added:  “The employer should meet the workers’ demands, and we don’t care about the investment with VBS.”  Meanwhile, Gauteng Premier David Makhura’s spokesperson, Castro Ngobese, said a task team had been appointed to resolve the deadlock by convening meetings with all affected parties to present a framework to stabilise the municipality.  “The premier has appointed a team of MECs working closely with labour, district municipality and national government to find a solution to the challenges besieging the municipality.  Our broad objective is to make sure that all challenges are addressed in a very structured and systematic manner to avoid disruption of service delivery.  We are hopeful that a solution will be found very soon,” said Ngobese.

Read the full original report by Manyane Manyane at The Sunday Independent

WORKPLACE CONDITIONS

Uncertainty over which government department covers horse groomers

The Star reported last week that horse groomers who went on a strike in Johannesburg in June over wages and working conditions might not be better off any time soon as there is confusion over which government department they fall under.  The parliamentary portfolio committee on labour heard that the industry was impacted by three different departments: agriculture, due to horse breeding; trade and industry, for the gambling; and labour, in respect of employment.  Geoff Woodruff, a prominent horse trainer, addressed the committee on a voluntary basis and spoke of the need for a national grooms’ wage, viz.:  “While we do work with animals, we work in entertainment and most of our work falls at night time.  We don’t know how to adjust our hours, we would like to have a sector.  Government should discuss what could work for us.”  According to Woodruff, trainers in Joburg paid grooms more than those in Cape Town, with the former earning about R4,300 a month.  Riders, who were independent, were paid R20 per ride.  He said trainers were trying to get a national grooms’ wage.  Of the 160 trainers inspected, only 5% were non-compliant with UIF contributions.

Read the full original report at The Star. Read the Portfolio Committee’s press statement in this regard at Parliament News

RESTRUCTURING / RETRENCHMENTS / COMPANY JOB LOSSES

Unions give warning to SABC: You retrench, we shut you down

News24 reports that unions are threatening to strike if the SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) does not address their concerns, including doing away with retrenchments.  At a recent picket at the SABC headquarters in Johannesburg, the broadcaster was given until Friday to respond to grievances the unions handed over to management, but according to Communication Workers Union (CWU) general secretary Aubrey Tshabalala they have received no response.  He indicated:  "I have checked my emails, and there has been no revert... we will now receive a mandate from the workers on what should happen next.  A total shutdown is on the cards, however the continuation of a broader consultation is unfolding.  We want to involve society at large since this is a matter of public interest."  SABC spokesperson Neo Momodu said on Sunday night that the broadcaster "takes the demands by the unions seriously" and it would respond to them as soon as the consultation processes with the stakeholders were concluded.  Almost a thousand permanent staffers stand to lose their jobs if the retrenchments go ahead, with over 1,200 freelancers also expected to be laid off.

Read the full original report by Pelane Phakgadi at News24

IPPs / RENEWABLE ENERGY

Numsa's Irvin Jim says IPPs will cripple Eskom, destroy almost 100,000 jobs

Fin24 reports that according to the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), the "disastrous" Independent Power Producers (IPPs) programme to be implemented by power utility Eskom could cost the country thousands of jobs.  Numsa members and members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) marched on Union Buildings on Saturday to hand over a memorandum protesting the signing of IPP contracts and the possible privatisation of Eskom.  Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said Eskom was "systematically and deliberately" being destroyed.  Noting that the Eskom board, senior management and the state have been promoting "the disastrous IPP programme", he commented:  "The ANC government has betrayed the working class again by finalising these contracts.  The IPP’s will destroy Eskom… it will lead to the destruction of almost 100,000 jobs in the country, the majority of which are in Mpumalanga."  Jim also rejected the plan to close power stations that reach the end of their life cycle.  Jim said that while Numsa was not against renewable energy there "must be a just transition, that we must have a socially owned renewable sector".  He called for a national dialogue on what kind of energy mix SA needed.

Read the full original report by Kaveel Singh at Fin24. Read too, State ‘wants to collapse and privatise Eskom’, at SowetanLive

Wind energy association body defends industry’s job creation potential

Engineering News reports that the SA Wind Energy Association (Sawea) has defended the industry’s job creation potential.  This was ahead of a march by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), which took place on Saturday to protest potential job losses in the coal-fired power generation sector as a result of SA’s plans to increase its use of renewable energy sources.  The Department of Energy (DoE) recently indicated that the renewable energy sector was currently four times more employment-intensive than the country’s coal and nuclear sectors.  “During construction thus far, employment for 30,405 job years has been created by the country’s renewable energy sector as a whole, with the wind industry contributing about one-third of these jobs,” explained Sawea CEO Brenda Martin.  The industry body was transparent about the fact that the lion’s share of employment opportunities were created within the construction phase, with a timeframe of typically two years per project.  But it pointed out that, while the power plant operations phase offered fewer employment opportunities, they did add up.  “The full portfolio of 36 preferred bidder wind projects, procured to date, are expected to generate 32,138 job years, over their 20-year operational period,” Martin noted.  Yet, Sawea warned that the energy transition in SA needed to be managed with much more care by all social partners.

Read the full original report at Engineering News

BASIC EDUCATION

Mpumalanga teacher paid over R1m for doing nothing since 2015, sues for R1.5m

The Star reports that a teacher has raked in more than R1-million in salary for doing nothing, following a long-drawn-out fallout with a principal and the school governing body.  Ndifelani Ligege, 40, of Amsterdam, Mpumalanga, is taking the provincial education department to court over a stand-off that has seen him banned from the classroom, while still receiving his salary, since January 2015.  The Umlambo Combined Secondary School teacher is suing the department for R1.5m for defamation, medical expenses over depression and the “psychological trauma” his family has suffered.  Ligege disposed in court papers that he had been forced to report for duty at the circuit for the past four years.  He stated that the last time he was in the school, the principal, Enock Yende, called him to his office and “insisted that I should go if I didn’t want to get hurt”.  This episode had been preceded by what Ligege described as his “peculiar and unlawful” dismissal from the school.  Accusing him of shoddy work and lack of discipline, the school dismissed Ligege in December 2014.  The department declared his dismissal illegal and instructed the school to allow him back by January 2015.  But once again, threats of violence diverted him to the circuit office.  An Mpumalanga department of education spokesperson would not indicate whether they planned to oppose Ligege’s application.

Read the full original report by Bongani Nkosi at The Star

MISCONDUCT / DISCIPLINARY ACTION

Unisa to probe employee responsible for ‘fake news' websites

Pretoria News reports that the University of SA (Unisa) employee exposed as the source of scores of fake news stories with the potential to divide South Africans along racial lines will be subjected to internal investigations.  The employee is in hot water after a probe named him as the man responsible for numerous fake news websites that generated income through advertisements.  The websites were not registered with any media regulator body and had no contactable editor and for a while were guilty of spreading fabricated and insensitive celebrity deaths stories and other misleading stories.  With the country experiencing a wave of fake news and misinformation, fake news sources have been condemned numerous times by the SA National Editors Forum (Sanef) and various public figures.  Unisa spokesperson Martin Ramotshela said:  “The university has already initiated an internal investigation into the alleged conduct by the employee and it will take appropriate steps informed by the facts established during and post the investigation.”  Sanef fake news expert Chris Louw said the phenomenon was a big problem that was spreading and often existed outside mainstream narratives, but still attracted a significant audience.

Read the full original report by James Mahlokwane at Pretoria News

CORRUPTION

Eskom chief vows to root out corruption, Masango resigns hours after suspension

Business Report writes that Eskom group CE Phakamani Hadebe has vowed to root out corruption at the power utility, vowing that the executive would leave no stone unturned in its efforts to clean up the state-owned enterprise.  He admitted during a media briefing on Friday that corruption had wide tentacles within the organisation, where those in leadership positions had influenced subordinates to take certain decisions.  However, he said those accused of wrongdoing would be held to account no matter what their level of seniority.  Hadebe, who was appointed to his position earlier this year after President Cyril Ramaphosa rose to power, said 1,049 investigations had been launched, with 822 finalised.  He advised that 79 people had exited the company, while 250 had been suspended without pay.  “That’s an achievement for us,” he said, noting, however, that this was not the end of the road.  In a statement issued moments before the briefing, Eskom said it had suspended, with immediate effect, group executive of the capital division, Abram Masango, pending an investigation into what it termed various allegations of impropriety relating to the Kusile power station build project.  Mail & Guardian then reported that hours after Masango’s suspension was announced, he resigned.  In a letter, his lawyers reportedly indicated that Masango had resigned because of “continuous harassment, threats and victimisation”.

Read the full original of this report by Luyolo Mkentane at Business Report. Read too, Masango quits hours after Eskom suspension, at Mail & Guardian

Other internet posting(s) in this news category

• North West premier Job Mokgoro suspends two chief directors for alleged corruption, at EWN