In our roundup of weekend news, see
summaries of our selection of South African
labour-related stories that appeared since
Thursday, 30 April 2020.
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Employers required to comply with stringent Covid-19 containment measures BusinessLive reports that with millions of workers returning to work on Monday under level 4 lockdown restrictions, employers will be required to implement stringent measures to contain the spread of Covid-19 in their workplaces. Under the government’s risk-adjusted strategy in the national lockdown, level 4 will allow the return to work of specified businesses under strict conditions. Department of Employment & Labour (DEL) Minister Thulas Nxesi warned at a media briefing on Sunday that employers who failed to comply with the minimum measures contained in a directive he issued late last week might be ordered to close down. The required health and safety measures will have to be implemented by businesses before workers return to their workplaces and the DEL’s inspectors will be inspecting premises to ensure there is compliance. The measures include screening of workers for symptoms of Covid-19 when they report for work, social distancing and the provision of personal protective equipment such as hand sanitisers and masks. Workers who test Covid-19 positive will have to report this and be sent home. A minimum distance of 1.5m must be maintained between workers and where this is not possible a physical barrier must be erected. Workplaces must be well ventilated. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive (paywall access only) As lockdown takes its toll on businesses, jobs axe hangs over half of SA’s workforce Sunday Times writes that a jobs bloodbath is set to see the unemployment rate soar, with millions of jobs on the line as SA sinks into probable economic depression. The Covid-19 pandemic has seen two ratings downgrades and disruption of the fiscus, with GDP expected to contract 10%. The result, warned SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Alan Mukoki, was that jobs would be sacrificed so businesses could stay afloat: "Employers have cash-flow problems. Some lucky businesses will make it through this, but it will be at the cost of their workforce." According to Mukoki, "the prospect of having the unemployment rate climb to 50% is not out of line". He went on to comment: "What we are seeing is that businesses will not borrow money and get into debt to pay staff when they can simply be laid off and made the burden of the Unemployment Insurance Fund. Most staff are not indispensable so you can get rid of them and maintain the business when it needs to be reactivated in six months' time, or whenever the economy can reopen properly." Retailer Edcon filed an application for business rescue last week, placing the livelihoods of 34,000 temporary and permanent employees on the chopping block. Wendy Alberts of the Restaurants Association of SA noted that the industry had been one of the hardest hit by the lockdown and commented: "I look at restaurants opening in level 4 and it's financial suicide to attempt what they are doing, but they are just trying to get back at it so they can pay their staff." The first wave of lockdown job cuts follows a flood of retrenchments earlier in the year caused by an economy that was struggling even before Covid-19 hit. By February, a collective 9,000 job cuts had been announced by companies such as ArcelorMittal SA, Samancor, Glencore, Massmart, Telkom, Sibanye and pharmaceutical giant Aspen. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jeff Wicks and Paul Ash at Sunday Times Motor dealers to open on Monday, amid uncertainty about applicable conditions BusinessLive reports that motor dealers will start reopening their doors to customers on Monday, even while unsure of the conditions under which they will be allowed to operate. On Thursday, the government added dealers to the list of business sectors allowed to trade from 1 May at level four of the risk-adjusted Covid-19 strategy. But the latest gazetted regulations refer only to “car sales”. Dealer groups hope this includes bakkies and commercial vehicles, but by Sunday afternoon they were still awaiting government clarification. The same applied to the rule that sales may take place “under specific directions”. According to a leading dealer: “We don’t know what these directions are. We hope we will find out on Monday what we can and can’t do, so we can make our business plans accordingly.” There are about 1,600 franchised new-vehicle dealers in SA, employing about 60,000 people. The National Automobile Dealers Association has warned that dealers will start to close and jobs will be lost if the sector is not allowed to return to work this week. Vehicle licensing offices will be open from Monday, but testing centres won’t be. Dealers will be allowed to undertake emergency repairs on vehicles, but not routine work under warranties and service plans. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by David Furlonger at BusinessLive UIF may have to sell bond investments if it can’t cope with Covid-19 Ters claims BL Premium reports that the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), which is playing a central role in the government’s bid to financially support workers and the unemployed, may have to sell some of its bond investments if it runs out of funds. With the Covid-19 lockdown continuing and amid escalating retrenchments, there have been concerns over the ability of the fund to meet the growing demand for benefits. The fund has assets of R136bn. Its investments in government bonds total R71bn and it has R12bn in bonds of state-owned enterprises, R26bn in domestic equities, R6bn in offshore investments, R7bn in money market investments and R14bn in social responsibility investments. The fund has set aside R40bn for Covid-19-related interventions for three months, but if the lockdown was extended beyond this period it might have to consider selling some of its bonds if that was not enough, labour department director-general Thobile Lamati told MPs on Friday. He reported that from 16 to 29 April, a total of 77,801 claims to the value of R4.47bn had been paid under the Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (Ters) to 1.1-million employees. In addition, 65,088 normal UIF benefits totalling just more than R1bn had been paid from 26 March to 30 April. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive (paywall access only) No UIF benefits for minibus drivers because of failure to implement 2005 sectoral determination Business Times reports that as the national Covid-19 lockdown enters its second month, minibus taxi drivers will not be lining up to claim unemployment money. Transport minister Fikile Mbalula said at a recent briefing that because the taxi industry was not regulated, the industry’s 200,000 employees — mostly drivers and taxi-rank marshals — were not eligible for Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) payments. But the Taxi Industry Sectoral Determination — which was thrashed out by the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) and the department of labour, and launched in April 2005 — instructed taxi operators to begin making UIF contributions for their drivers along with guaranteeing other benefits. Despite being published in the Government Gazette in April 2005, the determination was never implemented, according to public transport analyst Paul Browning. “I can assure you that it remains in force and has not been rescinded,” he indicated. Section 6 of the determination states that every payday the employer must give the employee a pay slip that includes the employer's UIF registration number and the employer’s contributions to the fund. The government’s failure to hold the taxi to account has now been harshly exposed by the lockdown as commuters stay home. Mbalula said the department was “fully aware” of the agreement and of the adverse impact on drivers and other employees of taxi owners not complying with the legislation. The issue will apparently be raised at the forthcoming National Taxi Indaba. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Paul Ash at BusinessLive (paywall access only) Employers are not applying for UIF benefits, leaving more than 200,000 workers without relief Moneyweb reports that there are currently 220,000 workers who are eligible to claim for salary benefits but who could miss out on payments because their employers have not applied for relief. These workers should be able to access the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) Covid-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (Ters), but the companies they work for are not passing on payments to them. Speaking last week, Minister of Labour Thulas Nxesi said some employers “had not even dared” to assist their employees in claiming for benefits. The UIF Ters benefit allows employers who are not able to pay employees because of the lockdown to claim for partial payments of their salaries. “We are endeavouring now to contact those individuals … we continue to appeal to them to help us,” said Nxesi. The UIF, which has 1.8 million registered employers representing eight million workers, had as of last week received 103,000 applications from employers seeking to claim benefits for 1.75 million employees. Nxesi emphasised that the Ters benefit would not pay full salaries but a portion of what an employee would normally receive. Employers who have registered to pay UIF are responsible for applying for Covid-19 relief benefits on behalf of their employees. “We should not punish the workers because of irresponsible employers,” said Nxesi. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tebogo Tshwane at Moneyweb. Read too, Claiming benefits ‘has been hell’, on page 26 of Saturday Citizen of 2 May 2020 Parliament ‘gutted’ as staffer succumbs to Covid-19 TimesLive reports that Parliament has lost one of its employees to Covid-19, the legislature announced on Friday. In a statement, presiding officers Thandi Modise and Amos Masondo said that Amos Komeni, a 60-year-old, succumbed to the disease on Thursday. Komeni had been employed in the office of the deputy speaker of the national assembly, Lechesa Tsenoli, since May 2014 as a project administrator. “We are shocked and saddened by this. We all hoped he would conquer this and be discharged from the hospital. This sudden turn of events has all of us gutted,” the statement read. Tsenoli said Komeni had served his office with utmost dedication and diligence. Parliament has been under strict lockdown since the end of March and its work is being done virtually. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at BusinessLive Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Amcu gets labour court backing for tighter Covid-19 regulations for returning mineworkers BusinessLive reports that the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) has scored a court victory to force the mining regulator and industry to tighten measures around the safety of staff returning to work from lockdown. The trade union took the Department of Mineral Resources & Energy (DMRE) and the chief inspector of mining to the Labour Court in Johannesburg to require tighter regulations governing health and safety for returning workers. On 16 April, the government allowed SA’s mines to return to 50% of capacity under the lockdown conditions implemented from 27 March. Amcu argued before the court that the rules governing the return to work and the safety protocols were inadequate and demanded a more comprehensive set of standards that would apply to the entire industry equally. On Friday, Judge André van Niekerk ruled that decisions by chief inspector of mining David Msiza made so far around the codes of practice be set aside. Msiza was ordered to gazette a notice no later than 18 May to give fresh guidelines in terms of the Mine Health and Safety Act and to require employers to “prepare and implement a code or codes of practice to mitigate the effect of the outbreak of Covid-19 on the health and safety of employees and persons who may be directly affected by the disease at the mine.” He was ordered to publish guidelines for public comment by 11 May after broad consultations. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Allan Seccombe at BusinessLive. Read too, Mines ready for new safety rules, though unions want more, at BusinessLive Competition Tribunal approves Harmony’s acquisition of AngloGold’s Mponeng mine and other SA assets Mining Weekly reports that the Competition Tribunal has unconditionally approved Harmony Gold’s acquisition of Mponeng gold mine, other assets and other related liabilities from AngloGold Ashanti (AGA). AGA last year decided to dispose of its last remaining SA assets, principally comprising the Mponeng underground mine; Mine Waste Solutions (MWS), the mine waste retreatment operation; and a surface rock dump processing business. AGA will retain its interest in Rand Refinery, as well as its obligations relating to the post-retirement medical cost for its applicable retired and remaining employees and its obligations under the Silicosis Class Action Settlement Agreement. The Competition Commission, which assesses large mergers before referring them to the Tribunal for a decision, concluded the relevant market as being the international markets for the production and supply of gold and silver. A lessening of competition in either market due to the acquisition was found to be unlikely. In relation to public interest concerns, the merging parties undertook that there would be no merger-related retrenchments. The Commission recommended that the proposed transaction be approved without conditions. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly Other posting(s) relating to mining
Fuel prices to fall substantially on Wednesday BusinessLive reports that the central energy fund announced on Friday that the price of both 93 and 95 octane petrol would drop by R1.74/l on Wednesday. Diesel with a 0.05% sulphur content will go down by R1.61/l and the higher grade by R1.56/l. The wholesale price of illuminating paraffin will drop by R2.23/l, with the retail equivalent to come down by R2.97/l. “The average international product prices for petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin decreased during the period under review,” the fund indicated in a statement, adding that the rand also firmed against the dollar. International oil prices have been ravaged by the effects of the coronavirus on economies, with Brent crude down more than 62% since the start of the year. With many countries in lockdown, fuel demand is extremely low, adding to the pressure on prices. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Andrew Linder at BusinessLive
SAA staff have until Friday to sign retrenchment deal, designed to buy more time for funding options to be explored BL Premium reports that employees at SA Airways (SAA) have until Friday to confirm whether they will sign the retrenchment agreement as proposed by the airline’s business rescue practitioners (BRPs) in a bid to buy more time to see if a funder can come to the rescue. In a letter to unions, the joint BRPs advised that Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan had indicated that he and his department were exploring funding options for SAA, which included discussion with unions about starting a new airline in the future. The BRPs said Gordhan had asked them to give employees a further extension to sign the retrenchment agreement put forward, but warned that it was likely to be the final extension to be given. This would allow more time to explore the funding options, and whether there was "any immediate and guaranteed funding that would permit the business rescue practitioners to reconsider the possibility of a restructured SAA or the possible sale of the business or SAA assets to another party". The airline was placed in business rescue earlier in 2020, but the BRPs have faced an uphill battle, which included a refusal by the government to put any more money into the broke airline. In their letter to unions, the BRPs indicated that if further funding was acquired and the restructuring of the airline was able to proceed, employees who had collectively or individually accepted the termination and severance packages would be re-employed. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Claudi Mailovich at BusinessLive (paywall access only). Read too, New airline may rise from ashes, at Mail & Guardian
Massive fall in cases since CCMA prohibited ‘walk-ins’ at its offices because of coronavirus pandemic Mail & Guardian reports that the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) has seen a massive drop in case referrals since it decided to close its doors to curb the spread of the coronavirus. According to data provided by the CCMA, between 18 March — when it first announced it would be adapting its operations amid the coronavirus outbreak — and last Thursday, it had received 5,141 case referrals. This was approximately 24.5% of the average number of cases it dealt with during the same period last year. In March, the statutory body indicated in a statement that it would be “doing some things a little differently” in the wake of the pandemic. Staff were allowed to work from home and meetings were conducted digitally. The CCMA also prohibited all walk-ins, in effect closing its offices. Shortly thereafter, the CCMA announced it would “cease full operations and services for the duration of the nationwide lockdown”. People requiring urgent assistance were encouraged to contact the CCMA through email, fax and its social media accounts “for labour-related advice”. CCMA spokesperson Amos Tshabalala advised that the body had noted a “huge decline in referrals since the lockdown”. Tshabalala gave the assurance that despite a drop in the number referrals during lockdown, “the CCMA has remained available to the workers on online platforms”. According to the CCMA’s data, 2,939 of the 5,141 referrals it received since 18 March related to dismissals, with more than half of those dismissal cases (1,506) having to do with alleged worker misconduct. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sarah Smit at Mail & Guardian
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