In our afternoon roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that appeared thus far on
Tuesday, 16 July 2019.
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Study reveals how psychiatric nurses face aggression from patients and colleagues The Star reports that the University of Johannesburg (UJ) indicated on Monday that research had shown that psychiatric health professionals were at high risk of exposure to violence and aggression. "Psychiatric nurses run a high risk of being exposed to aggression. They experience aggression from patients as well as fellow colleagues. Aggression in the work environment has an overt negative psychological effect on the nurse," said Professor Marie Poggenpoel. She added that health professionals often felt uncertain about how to deal with violence and aggression. "Standing at the interface between medicine, psychiatry and law, the best actions may not be clear, and guidelines neither consistently applicable nor explicit," Poggenpoel explained. A new study undertaken by researchers from the Department of Nursing Sciences within the Faculty of Health Sciences at UJ, found that in a working environment with dysfunctional nurse-to-nurse relationships, stress and aggression in the work environment influenced factors such as low productivity owing to conflicts, recruitment and retention challenges, burnout, absenteeism, litigation and rapid staff turnover. The population for this research consisted of psychiatric nursing staff registered with the SA Nursing Council who were employed in an academic psychiatric hospital in Johannesburg. Read the full original of Lindi Masinga’s report on the above at The Star
Cosatu threatens government, mining companies with court over acid mine water The Citizen reports that according to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), the acid mine water crisis in Gauteng will not be resolved because the government lacks the political will to deal with what has become a health hazard. In a statement on Monday, the federation threatened to take the government and the companies responsible for the contamination to court if they did not address the issue, which it described as a “ticking time bomb”. Cosatu also indicated that it planned to hold protests and occupy government and company offices. Cosatu’s parliamentary coordinator Matthew Parks accused the departments of mineral resources, water and sanitation and environmental affairs of not having coherent plans in their budget votes announced last week to deal with the deepening crisis. He warned the three departments to apply the law. The union federation noted that mining houses had long been polluting water supplies. According to Cosatu, the problem affected mining towns in other provinces too. Parks pointed out that the department of mineral resources has not shown any intention to hold the mining houses to account, to stop the pollution by withdrawing the offenders’ mineral rights or to prosecute them. Read the full original of Eric Naki’s report on the above at The Citizen. Read Cosatu’s press statement on this matter at Cosatu News
Strike at Ngqura Container Terminal hampering vehicle and citrus exports Moneyweb reports that Transnet has obtained a court interdict to stop illegal strike action by employees at the Ngqura Container Terminal. The go-slow has severely disrupted production at the Volkswagen SA (VWSA) manufacturing plant in Uitenhage and has caused a crisis in the citrus industry in the Eastern Cape. The Citrus Growers Association has called on trade and industry minister Ebrahim Patel to intervene on behalf of the industry to prevent the industrial action in the port from developing into a deeper economic crisis. Transnet spokesperson Molatwane Likhethe said they was aware of the challenges that the go-slow’ of the past two weeks had caused to various industries across the country. Mohammed Mahomedy, acting group CE at Transnet, said they were working around the clock to find solutions, including prioritising urgent cargo. VWSA said on Monday that its plant was able to produce normally on Thursday, Friday and at the weekend, but the situation was not looking positive from Tuesday. The go-slow in the port has not yet affected the production of Isuzu Motor SA, the other vehicle manufacturer in the city. Justin Chadwick, CE of the Citrus Growers Association, said the situation at the port had now reached crisis proportions. The consequences of delays on vessels calling into the port were that containers of citrus were unable to be packed, which meant citrus consignments now had to be trucked at extra cost to Durban and Cape Town for export. Read the full original of Roy Cokayne’s report on the above story at Moneyweb
Admission of new stakeholders to Nedlac should not depend on those inside, Nxesi asserts BusinessLive reports that employment & labour minister Thulas Nxesi asserts that the admission of stakeholders to the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) cannot depend on those inside the council. According to Nedlac protocols, organisations seeking affiliation to the council must be admitted by the relevant constituency. This means that Business Unity SA (Busa) would have to accept the membership of the Black Business Council and the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) would have to be accepted by the represented labour federations, Cosatu, Fedusa and Nactu. The admittance of stakeholders to Nedlac has been a thorny issue, with some organisations having not being admitted to the council despite representing significant constituencies. In his budget vote address, Nxesi announced that the department would consult with all social partners to review Nedlac’s constitution to promote “greater inclusivity”. Another key issue for organised labour is the recent approach taken by the labour registrar, who has come under fire for cracking down on some unions for non-compliance with their constitutions and other legal requirements. Nxesi said last week the “the labour registrar must do his or her work. If people do not comply they do not comply.” He went on to explain: “What we are saying is not that it’s coming in with a jackboot approach and say we are closing you tomorrow. It is to sit, analyse the nature of the problem and say how do we help you to be able to comply. But at some stage we must set deadlines.” Read the full original of Claudi Mailovich’s report in the above regard at BusinessLive
Plans for trimming public service and reducing state wage bill being urgently finalised The Star reports that Public Service and Administration Minister Senzo Mchunu said on Monday that government would urgently be finalising the reconfiguration of government, which would include trimming the numbers of public servants and easing the burden on the public service wage bill. He was addressing a strategic planning session of the Public Service Commission (PSC). During his budget vote speech in Parliament last week, Mchunu said that the public service was not bloated in size of employment but that the wage bill and the overall cost to run it was bloated. The government has already introduced its plans at the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSBC). Senior public servants have also been encourage to take early retirement. Other cost-cutting measures would include the phasing out of several public entities. At the PSBC, labour has demanded that the state as the employer should introduce a comprehensive human resources plan indicating the extent to which employees would be affected in each government department. Mchunu also warned at the PSC session that the public service would degenerate into a shambles if the fight against corruption in the sector was not intensified. Read the full original of Siviwe Feketha’s report on the above at Security.co.za Hundreds of officials in hot water for still doing business with state The Star reports that hundreds of public servants appear to have not heeded the instruction to stop doing business with the state. In response to this contravention, the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) has handed 20 names of officials to police, and they could soon be arrested. The department passed regulations prohibiting public servants from doing any form of business with the state in 2016. The regulations were clear that public servants should not go into business with the state in their individual capacity or through companies of which they were directors. All government workers in that position were given until January 2017 to either resign from the public service or relinquish their business interests. But a list that The Star has seen showed that 721 employees of the Eastern Cape education department alone were still registered on the state’s central supplier database. The DPSA said it has been monitoring the database closely together with National Treasury, since the 2016 regulations. “The department is further interrogating the issue, and as more employees are identified their names will be handed to the police,” Vukani Mbhele, spokesperson for DPSA Minister Senzo Mchunu, indicated. A proclamation in April expanded the category of those banned from doing business with the state to include special advisers to ministers. It also declared contravention of the regulation to be a criminal offence. Read the full report by Bongani Nkosi, which originally appeared in The Star, at Security.co.za
Solidarity warns Denel of legal action over unpaid pension contributions The Citizen reports that at least one trade union has threatened legal action against arms manufacturer Denel for the non-payment of statutory contributions deducted from salaries. This was against the backdrop of the state-owned company’s liquidity crisis, which led to late salary payments last month. Solidarity, which represents 1,200 of Denel’s approximately 4,000 permanent staff, was in talks with its legal department on Monday after demanding clarity from management on the non-payment of workers’ pension contributions last month. On Monday, Denel’s board met with the Denel Retirement Fund and unions expressed the hope that that would bring clarity as to how long workers would have to wait for the late payments. “We gave management a heads up this morning that we need feedback regarding that meeting before noon today, failing which we will be meeting with our legal team to discuss whether to proceed with some form of legal action,” said Solidarity’s Johan Botha. He added the union was concerned this might not be the last time the company struggled to pay salaries because there “may be a light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s not clear how long that tunnel is.” Denel spokesperson Pam Malinda said the company was still “facing challenges”, despite continuously engaging with the department of public enterprises on its liquidity crisis. The United Association of SA (Uasa) would not comment on whether it would institute its own legal action. Read the full original of Simnikiwe Hlatshaneni’s report on the above at The Citizen Other internet posting(s) in this news category Saudi Arabia's State defence company continues partnership talks with Denel after rebuff, at Engineering News
GEPF should have been consulted on PIC’s Ayo deal, Mpati inquiry hears BusinessLive reports that the Mpati inquiry into the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) heard on Monday that the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) was misled by the state-owned asset manager in respect of its R4.3bn investment in Ayo Technology Solutions. The PIC invested in Ayo in December 2017, but the deal has been controversial for a number of reasons, including allegations that processes were deliberately manipulated to invest in the company that business person Iqbal Survé indirectly controls. The PIC bought a 29% stake at R43 a share, implying a valuation of R14.8bn. But a few months before, financial statements showed that Ayo had total assets of R292m and a book value of R67m. Since then, the share has traded at far below the original valuation. Abel Sithole, GEPF principal executive officer, told the inquiry that the PIC “did not involve nor inform the GEPF when it considered and made the investment in Ayo. It did not highlight this investment in its subsequent reporting to the GEPF.” The GEPF is by far the largest client of the PIC, with assets of more than R1.8-trillion. Sithole was also shocked to find that the PIC had included the GEPF as a plaintiff when it launched litigation earlier this year to recover the money invested in the company. Read the full original of Warren Thompson’s report in the above regard at BusinessLive. Read too, Custodian of government-worker pension money was blindsided by PIC’s R4.3bn AYO deal, at Daily Maverick. And also, State pension fund was in the dark about Ayo transaction, at Moneyweb GEPF looks to invest more offshore to limit local overexposure Bloomberg reports that the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) is planning to invest more of its R2 trillion under management outside the country and in unlisted assets to reduce risk of overexposure to locally traded companies. The strategy was outlined by GEPF principal executive officer Abel Sithole to the commission of inquiry into allegations of wrongdoing and poor governance at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), the pension fund’s biggest manager. The GEPF has more than 92% of its assets invested in companies trading on the JSE and is a significant holder of SA government bonds and those of state-owned enterprises. The GEPF’s “significant home bias” wasn’t wrong and had historically served the GEPF well, but the fund needed to manage risk, Sithole said. Moving more GEPF cash offshore could send shockwaves through SA’s listed companies, many of which count the PIC as its biggest shareholder. Meanwhile, increased investment in unlisted assets may help new industries and support black entrepreneurs as part of a wider initiative to redress economic imbalances caused by white-minority rule. Read the full original of Janice Kew’s report in the above regard at Moneyweb Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Fired Woolworths HR officer who wangled a R35.51 discount on item approaching sell-by date loses appeal TimesLIVE reports that a Woolworths human resources officer lost her job for the sake of a R35.51 discount on a pack of beef. Fundiswa Mlotha was fired from one of the retailer’s Cape Town branches and three years later she has just lost her latest attempt to get her job back. After losing her case at the CCMA, Mlotha appealed to the Cape Town Labour Court. But Judge Edwin Tlhotlhalemaje said last week she had clearly engineered the discount for herself, knowing she was breaching company rules. The court was told that between 8am and 9am on 29 July 2016, Mlotha put a pack of beef priced at R115.51 into a cooler. Shortly after 2pm, when it was Woolworths’ practice to reduce the prices of items approaching their sell-by date, CCTV footage showed her retrieving the pack, asking a shelf-filler to place a “30% off” sticker on it and putting it into her shopping basket. Food department manager Jason Scott said she paid only R80 for the beef. While Mlotha said she had reserved it for a customer who failed to pitch, she was unable to provide evidence for her claim. What she had done was regarded as a “breach of the honesty code of practice to be met with instant dismissal”, said Scott. Dismissing Mlotha’s claim of unfair dismissal, Tlhotlhalemaje said she “knowingly” breached the company’s rules and policies related to “honesty and integrity”. Read the original of the above report by Nabeelah Osman and Khanyisa Tyelela at TimesLIVE Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Fedusa and transport union Untu to shut down commuter train services nationwide on 26 July The Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) and its affiliate the United National Transport Union (Untu) issued a statement on Tuesday advising that they planned to shut down the running of commuter trains nationwide on Friday, 26 July 2019. The National Day of Protest Action will be against “extremely poor and dangerous Metrorail passenger trains services, that continue to violate all health and safety provisions as seen by perpetually late trains, deliberate acts of arson and endless fatal accidents that have left many families traumatised and burdened with disciplinary action; as a result of failed and stoic services that leave commuters helpless and frustrated daily.” The aim will be to force the Presidency to declare the passenger rail service crisis a national disaster, in order to facilitate the deployment of the SA Defence Force (SANDF) to safeguard rail assets and help combat rampant railway crime. Fedusa pointed out that, after lengthy discussions and efforts to reach an amicable solution, it was awarded a Section 77 Socio-Economic Strike Certificate by Nedlac in terms of Section 77 of the LRA. This means that all workers and society at large will be able to take part in the protest action without fear of victimisation by employers. Read the joint Fedusa/Untu press statement at SA Labour News Gauteng transport MEC 'blown away' by Gautrain The Star writes that on Monday Gauteng MEC for transport Jacob Mamabolo released the results of a recent study conducted by consultancy Hatch to ascertain what the benefits the Gautrain project had brought about. The study found that 3,800 direct jobs were created for women during the construction phase and 3,000 during operations. Another 20,300 direct jobs were created during construction for youth and 5,800 during operations. Some 29,900 direct jobs had also been provided for historically disadvantaged people during construction and 10,100 during operations. The MEC was taken on a train ride and a visit to the Gautrain operations centre, as well as to a number of stations. He said he was “blown away” by what he found in terms of security, safety of passengers, the knowledge of drivers and staff, the politeness and helpfulness of staff, good governance and efficiency. “I cannot believe what I saw. Metrorail should be benchmarking itself with the Gautrain. It’s of international quality and it demonstrates how government, in partnership with the private sector, can run efficient and well-managed services,” Mamabolo remarked. He indicated that, having seen the project personally, he would motivate for more funding to build future phases of the project, which are already in the pipeline. Read the full original of the report by Anna Cox in the above regard at The Star. Read too, Gautrain adds R6.4bn to the Gauteng economy a year, says new study, at Engineering News Other internet posting(s) in this news category
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