Today's Labour News

MINING LABOUR

SA mining deaths fell in 2019 to record low of 51, but rise in platinum sector fatalities a concern

BusinessLive reports that SA’s mines deaths fell to a record low of 51 during 2019, marking the success of increased focused on safety in the mineral sector, which has some of the world’s deepest mines.  The industry had 81 fatalities in 2018.  “This is the lowest level ever in the industry,” mineral resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe indicated at a briefing on Friday.  The one area of concern in the latest data is the 67% increase in fatalities in the platinum sector, where the number of deaths increased to 20 in 2019 from 12 previously.  Platinum company bosses had committed to speaking to their peers in other minerals and hold safety summits to reverse the trend, said the department’s chief inspector of mines, David Msiza.  The leading causing of deaths in SA mining remained falls of ground, which is when a tunnel or working face collapses.  During 2019 there were no disasters, which the department defines as accidents in which five or more employees are killed.

Read the original of the above report by Allan Seccombe at BusinessLive

Amcu fails to get extension of retrenchment agreements to non-signatory minority unions declared unconstitutional

BusinessLive reports that the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) has dismissed an application by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) for leave to appeal against a judgment on retrenchments at Royal Bafokeng platinum mine five years ago.  Amcu approached the top court to challenge the constitutionality of certain sections of the Labour Relations Act (LRA), after failing to convince the labour court and subsequently the labour appeal court to overturn the axing of its 103 members by the mine in September 2015.  They were retrenched in terms of an agreement signed by two other unions and extended to members of Amcu, which was then a minority union.  Amcu’s argument in the lower courts had been that the collective agreement on the retrenchments was “constitutionally objectionable”, as it excluded minority unions.  Extending it was equally constitutionally objectionable.  Under examination was Section 23(1)(d) of the LRA, which allows an employer and a majority trade union to conclude and extend a collective agreement to employees or members of a union not party to the agreement, and Section 189(1), which provides for employers to consult workers or any workplace forum before retrenching.  In a majority judgment, the ConCourt ruled that section 189(1) did not limit the right to fair labour practices.  It held that even if the section did limit the right to fair labour practices, such limitation would be justifiable.  The court further held that the right not to be unfairly dismissed was sourced in the LRA and not the constitution.  It stated that because the decision to retrench was not based on individual conduct there could be no need for individual consultation.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY

Manhunt after Durban police captain is gunned down

News24 reports that National Police Commissioner General Khehla John Sitole has called for a manhunt after the fatal shooting of an off-duty police captain in KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday.  The 55-year-old officer, who was stationed at the Marianhill Public Order Policing Unit, was shot in New Germany, Pinetown, at about 18:40 while walking home from a local store.  "Neighbours who had heard gunshots went outside to investigate and that is when they noticed a white Toyota double-cab with tinted windows speeding off," police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo said.  He advised that the officer was found with all his personal belongings on him, including his cellphone, wallet and service pistol, therefore, ruling out robbery as a motive for his killing.  Sitole condemned the ongoing attacks and killing of police officers.  He described the latest incident as an attack on the authority of the state.  Sithole urged the investigators to leave no stone unturned.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Kaveel Singh at News24

Alleged killer of Durban constable arrested while boarding bus to Joburg

News24 reports that a suspect in the murder of a police constable in Durban last week was arrested when he attempted to board a bus from Pietermaritzburg to Johannesburg.  National police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo indicated:  "The suspect was arrested [on Saturday night] in Pietermaritzburg while attempting to board a bus to Johannesburg.  The suspect spotted the members as they were about approach him and he attempted to flee.  The suspect was stopped and arrested through the use of the police K9 [unit].  He was found in possession of a SAPS service pistol which was robbed from a police official in Umlazi in December 2019."  Cele was shot and killed on Friday morning when he and another officer stopped a suspicious looking vehicle in Berea.  The officers had approached the vehicle from both sides when the passenger shot at Cele, jumped into the driver's seat and sped off.  The initial driver was arrested and the vehicle was later found abandoned.  National police commissioner General Khehla Sitole applauded the apprehension of the alleged perpetrator.  He had earlier ordered the implementation of the police’s 72-hour activation plan, which had entailed the mobilisation of critical resources including the Hawks, Pietermaritzburg Crime Intelligence, Durban K9 Unit and Flying Squad.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tammy Petersen at News24

Other internet posting(s) in this news category

• Port Elizabeth security guard shot dead in his bakkie on Thursday, at News24

SAA IN CRISIS

Employees at cash-strapped SAA receive their January salaries

BusinessLive reports that January salaries at South African Airways (SAA) have been paid, despite the state-owned national carrier’s tense waiting game for the R2bn of funding it needs to continue operating.  A spokesperson for the business rescue practitioners said on Friday:  “The business rescue practitioners and management have taken various actions to ensure that cash is conserved.  As a result we have sufficient funds to pay salaries.”  SAA is on tenterhooks at it waits to hear whether the Treasury has raised the R2bn from the capital markets.  Although, the Treasury pledged in December to provide the money from the fiscus, it later transpired that it did not have a legal mechanism to appropriate additional money for SAA, as it was not covered in the adjustment budget in October.  The only other mechanism — an appropriation under section 16 of the Public Finance Management Act — was exhausted last year when an emergency R17bn was transferred to Eskom.  The government is expected to make an announcement on the SAA funding very soon.

Read the original of the above report at BusinessLIve

Moratorium for now on closure of SAA’s overnight base for pilots in Cape Town

Fin24 reports that business rescue practitioners have, at least for the moment, put a moratorium on any plans to close the Cape Town pilot base of South African Airways (SAA).  Captain Grant Back, chairperson of the SAA Pilots' Association (Saapa) advised on Friday that SAA had been intending to close the base in Cape Town, but the airline's own figures showed that closing the base would not guarantee savings.  With SAA sticking to its guns, whilst keeping the cabin crew base open, the pilots had recommended to the airline's business rescue practitioners (BRPs) that any closure would be premature until an independent check of the SAA decision was undertaken and the final plan on the restructuring was completed.  "The BRPs have therefore, for now, put a moratorium on closing the Cape Town base.  It would only be considered once the business rescue plan has been submitted," said Back.  He explained that closing the Cape Town pilot base would mean that pilots flying very early flights out of and very late flights into Cape Town would result in far higher hotel costs for SAA as Johannesburg-based crew would have to overnight in Cape Town.  "Having pilot bases away from a main base is common practice around the world and Mango, Airlink and SA Express all have a Cape Town Pilot base," Back indicated.  He added that SAAPA had had some very positive engagements with the BRPs.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Carin Smith at Fin24

PRICES / TAXES

Absa expects a VAT hike to 16% in next month's national budget

Fin24 reports that as SA struggles with SOEs on the brink of collapse, below-target revenue collection and reluctance to cut the public sector payroll, Absa believes that government is likely to announce a VAT increase to 16% during the national budget speech next month.  In its economic forecast ahead of the 2020 budget to be presented on 26 February, the financial services group said:  “We think the government will once again rely primarily on taxes to try to narrow the deficit, and in particular, we are making the bold call of a 1 [percentage point] rise in the VAT rate.”  The bank expects the finance minister to increase VAT to 16% and to not adjust taxes for inflation like Treasury did last year, which saw people paying more taxes even when their salary increases did not match inflation.  “We believe the scope for big cuts is limited, given that the government is in the middle of a multi-year pay deal with civil servants, which ends only in March 2021, and it has also promised not to implement any mandatory retrenchments,” Absa opined.  In 2018, SA saw a VAT hike to 15% from the 14% which had been in place since 1993.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Phumi Ramalepe at Fin24

STAFFING / VACANCIES

Tembisa Hospital still short staffed, with 103 extra posts unfilled because of lack of funds

News24 reports that the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng says that while 103 extra staff posts were approved at Tembisa Hospital a year ago, there are no funds to fill them.  In a statement on Sunday, the party's provincial health spokesperson Jack Bloom said he had uncovered this during an unannounced visit to the hospital last Friday.  Bloom said staff at the hospital's Ward 5 neonatal ICU unit informed him that only 19 staff members were working at the unit, while 40 were needed to operate it.  Ten babies died at the hospital's unit between November and December last year, due to a Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) outbreak.  "At the Ward 4 neonatal ward, where most of the deaths occurred, there are 44 beds, but there were 61 babies when we visited and we were told that, in December, there were days when there were more than 100 babies," Bloom said.  But, according to Tembisa Hospital CEO Dr Lekopane Mogaladi, the hospital has been managing to control CRE klebsiella cases, which averaged two a month from January to October last year.  Bloom claimed the deaths could have been avoided if President Cyril Ramaphosa "had listened and acted effectively" when he visited the hospital in 2018.  He said that Ramaphosa had "failed" to provide extra staff and resources at the hospital, even after he promised so on 20 May.  According to Bloom, the "failed promises" within the health sector would lead to more avoidable deaths in hospitals.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sesona Ngqakamba at News24

REMUNERATION / SALARY ADMINISTRATION

Government and Prasa working on a plan, says Autopax about partial salary payments in January

Fin24 reports that Autopax says government is "working on a plan" following an announcement that staff would only be paid half their salaries for January, but in the meantime management would be in regular contact with staff to "explain the situation”.  Autopax is the bus subsidiary of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) and operates Translux and City to City.  In the statement by senior communications manager Nana Zenani, Autopax said it had faced "operational and financial challenges for a while now", which have culminated in a serious cash flow challenge resulting in the recent inability to pay employees their full salaries.  The balance of the unpaid salaries will apparently be paid at a date not yet confirmed.  Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, whose department is responsible for Prasa, recently described Prasa as a "broken organisation, struggling to provide an efficient commuter and passenger rail service".

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Marelise van der Merwe at Fin24

RETRENCHMENTS / COMPANY JOB CUTS

Aspen Pharmacare joins long list of firms cutting jobs

BusinessLive reports that pharmaceutical manufacturer Aspen Pharmacare has joined a growing list of SA companies retrenching staff, with plans to shed up to 219 jobs at its Port Elizabeth and East London plants as it seeks to remain globally competitive.  Aspen is Africa’s biggest drug maker and has for the past year been disposing of noncore assets to manage its debt burden, which it cut from R53.5bn in December 2018 to R38.9bn by the end of June.  Aspen group operating officer Lorraine Hill said on Thursday the company was working hard to minimise the effects of the retrenchment process.  “This is not something that Aspen takes lightly and is a last resort in a transformation journey that has been transparent and involved employees and their input,” she said.  Staff at Aspen’s affected facilities were issued with section 189A () notices of possible retrenchments in December.  Its looming job cuts come on the heels of moves by Telkom, Massmart, Sibanye Gold and Samancor Chrome to trim their workforces.  Sibanye Stillwater’s restructuring, announced in September, has seen it shed 1,142 jobs at Marikana.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive

Numsa vows to defend jobs as Samancor Chrome joins list of companies seeking to retrench

Fin24 reports that, with yet another company invoking section 189 of the Labour Relations Act, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has warned that it would "do everything possible” to fight Samancor Chrome’s plans to cut 595 jobs at its smelting operations.  And while Numsa tries to stop a jobs bloodbath at the company’s Mooinooi smelter in the North West Province, the union is also in defence mode in retrenchment consultations at Glencore Alloys and Merafe Resources smelter in Rustenburg.  Both Glencore and Samancor have said energy challenges were behind their decisions to resort to retrenchment processes.  In a statement, Numsa indicated:  "As a union we are deeply concerned that once again the cost of electricity, and the crisis of loadshedding has resulted in the threat of job losses.  Last year, the high cost of energy was one of the main reasons given by ArcelorMittal for serving us with section 189 retrenchment notice…  Loadshedding and high energy costs are having a direct impact on production, and in turn, this is resulting in workers losing their jobs."  However, Numsa added that Samancor's alleged poverty was “suspicious”, considering the company's recent purchase of Hernic Ferrochrome.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khulekani Magubane at Fin24

ArcelorMittal SA has shed more than 1,000 jobs

BL Premium reports that while warning of big financial losses in respect of the 2019 financial year, ArcelorMittal SA (Amsa) said on Thursday that it had cut more than 1,000 jobs as part of steps to reduce costs.  It described the 2019 financial year as the most difficult since the global financial crisis for the global steel industry.  In July 2019, the company had indicated that as many as 2,000 jobs were on the line as it grappled with lower selling prices, falling demand and rising input costs.  In an update, ArcelorMittal SA said on Thursday that the reduction of the workforce was almost complete.  As part of the cost-cutting measures, the company said it would also change the prices and scope of sub-contractor services by the end of the first quarter of 2020.  In 2019, the company had also announced a review of its assets that culminated in a decision to wind down the operations at the Saldanha plant in the Western Cape.  It now reported that it would be “largely” completed by the end of the first quarter of 2020.  The second phase of the asset review commenced in November 2019, focusing on the Newcastle Works and certain of the long steel products rolling facilities in Pretoria and Vereeniging.  Amsa noted that it did not anticipate the closure of long steel product plants “in the foreseeable future” and primary steel-making operations would continue in Newcastle, with the plant primarily serving the domestic and Africa overland markets.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Siseko Njobeni at BusinessLive (paywall access only)

BASIC EDUCATION / TEACHING

Gauteng education MEC suspends Parktown Boys’ principal, teachers to be charged over drowning of pupil

TimesLIVE reports that Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has suspended Parktown Boys' High School principal Malcolm Williams following the death of grade 8 pupil Enoch Mpianzi while on a school camp.  Lesufi said at a media briefing on Friday that teachers involved in the outing would be charged individually and all the district officials who handled the application for the school's visit would receive letters of suspension.  The 13-year-old pupil died in an accident on 15 January during the Johannesburg school's grade 8 orientation camp at Nyathi Bush and River Break in North West.  Mpianzi drowned while participating in a water activity shortly after arriving at the camp.  His body was discovered on 17 January after a search.  Williams and seven staff members accompanied the children.  In a separate statement last week, the school governing body (SGB) pledged its support for the investigation by the education department and the police into the tragedy.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard at TimesLIVE. Read too, Enoch Mpianzi tragedy: Parktown Boys' High Grade 8 camp was unauthorised, at News24

Other internet posting(s) in this news category

• Continued 'culture of silence' at Parktown Boys' High concerns education department, at News24
• Media kicked out of meeting between Lesufi and Parktown Boys' High parents, at News24

MISCONDUCT / DISCIPLINARY ACTION

Fisheries department to challenge disciplinary hearing finding clearing high-ranking official of multimillion-rand abalone theft

News24 reports that the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) has instructed its legal team to launch an application in the Labour Court to review and set aside the findings of a disciplinary hearing which cleared a high-ranking official accused of being involved in the multimillion-rand theft of abalone.  Thembalethu Vico, the former acting chief director of monitoring, control and surveillance, was found not guilty of 14 charges relating to loss of abalone worth millions of rand.  According to the charge sheet, three tons of abalone belonging to the department was removed or released from its store house in Paarden Eiland, resulting in Vico facing allegations of misconduct relating to its removal.  He was accused of acting in concert with his colleagues – acting director-general, Siphokazi Ndudane and then-chief financial officer Nazima Parker – in releasing the abalone to crime intelligence officers for use in undercover operations, in circumstances which contravened policy prescripts regulating the handling of confiscated abalone.  This resulted in a loss of an estimated R7m.  The chairperson ruled in Vico's favour, saying he had acted under the authority of the acting director-general (DG).  He questioned how the intention to steal could have been established in that instance.  "It is very difficult to see how the crime of theft can be committed by handing over the item that it is alleged to have been stolen to the police," the judgment reads.  Vico was also found not guilty of failing to report the incidents in Gansbaai, as there was no evidence that he even knew about them.  Department spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo, however, said they had "noted the outcome of the chairperson of the disciplinary hearing with "concerns" and had instructed their legal team to launch an application to review and set aside the finding.

Read the full original of the detailed report in the above regard by Tammy Petersen at News24