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 roundup of labour news, see
summaries of our selection of South African
labour-related stories that recently appeared.
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Solidarity and AfriForum to challenge government’s Covid-19 vaccine monopoly in court BusinessLive reports that the government’s monopoly on the buying and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines is to be challenged in court by trade union Solidarity and NGO AfriForum. They have instructed their legal team to prepare a case for such a challenge. “The two organisations want to ensure that those who seek to get the vaccine are not obstructed from doing so by government mismanagement or corruption,” the organisations indicated in a statement. Health minister Zweli Mkhize has made it clear that all vaccines will be acquired and distributed by the national government, which has so far secured 1.5-million doses of the University of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s vaccine for health workers from the Serum Institute of India. One-million doses are due to arrive in January and a further 500,000 in February. The government has also signed up to get vaccines under the Covax global facility. But, there has been mounting public concern — including by high-profile health professionals — about the delay by the government in securing a supply of vaccines when many other countries have already started rolling out their vaccination programmes. AfriForum’s Ernst van Zyl said the government could not have a monopoly on deciding who received the vaccine and that they were seeking “to prevent the potential abuse of government power as it relates to the buying and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, by fighting to allow the private sector to assist in this endeavour.” Solidarity Research Institute head Connie Mulder added that SA could not allow the nationalisation of vaccines. “The state has a history of failures and SA cannot afford another failure during this crisis,” he pointed out. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive. Read too, Unions blast Mkhize’s Covid-19 vaccine roll-out plan, at The Star. And also, Unions slam vaccine strategy, at BusinessLive Covid-19 fells National Teachers’ Union leader Allen Thompson The Witness reports that the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) joined others on 4 January 2021 in expressing sadness at news of the death of the president of the National Teachers’ Union (Natu), Allen Thompson. His death was reportedly Covid-19 related. Thompson was elected as the president of Natu in 2018 after having previously served as the union’s deputy president. Sadtu’s statement read: “As the president of Natu, a union that we share various platforms with such as the Education Labour Relations Council, we were exposed to his deep passion for the advancement of teachers’ rights in our country.” The Democratic Alliance (DA) in KZN and the IFP also expressed shock at Thompson’s death and extended condolences to his family and colleagues. “Thompson leaves behind a legacy of hard work and dedication that will not be easy for just anyone to replicate,” the DA indicated in a statement. “The education sector is poorer because of this loss of a giant unionist and passionate educationist,” said IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at The Witness. See too, National Teachers' Union president Allen Thompson dies, at News24 Employment and Labour Deputy Minister Boitumelo Moloi hospitalised with Covid-19 News24 reports that Employment and Labour Deputy Minister Boitumelo Moloi has been hospitalised with Covid-19. She was hospitalised on Tuesday and received a positive result on Wednesday, Cabinet spokesperson Phumla Williams advised on Sunday. "Moloi remains hospitalised, recovering well and confident that she will overcome the virus," Williams stated. All Moloi's staff who had come in contact with her will self-isolate. Read the original of the short report in the above regard by Nicole McCain at News24 Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Body of Kruger Park game ranger found a month after he went missing during a routine patrol TimesLIVE reports that police have launched an investigation after the remains of a game ranger were found in the Kruger National Park. Checkers Mashego’s body was found a month after his disappearance. Environment, forestry and fisheries minister Barbara Creecy said: “Human remains believed to be those of Ranger Mashego were discovered along with a number of personal items by a search party in the Stolsnek area of the park late on December 17, exactly a month since his disappearance. Mr Mashego, a ranger with 10 years’ experience, went missing during a routine patrol along the Ntsikazi River on November 17. The area has been cordoned off. SA Police Service forensic experts, and members of the SA National Parks environmental crime investigative unit are on the scene. The human remains will be sent for DNA analysis to confirm the identity of the departed.” She extended her deepest condolences to ranger Mashego’s family Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Philani Nombembe at TimesLIVE Union demands 'thorough' probe after woman killed in crash, farmworkers flung off back of truck in crash near Worcester News24 reports that the Agricultural, Food, Fishing and Retail Industry Workers' Union (Afriwu) called for a "thorough but swift" probe into a crash on 4 January involving a truck that was transporting 37 farmworkers. Apparently, the farmworkers were being transported on the back of the 40-ton truck when the accident occurred between Worcester and De Doorns. One woman died in the accident and thirteen people were injured. In a statement, Afriwu general-secretary Gafieldien Benjamin said the union was "disgusted" that farmers were still allowed to transport workers on open trucks without any safety measures in place to protect them. "We have seen over the years how farmworkers are killed whilst being transported on open trucks as a result of either unsafe transit measures or reckless truck drivers," Benjamin said. The union called on the government to "enact legislation that will afford farmworkers the same protections as other ordinary passengers enjoy," he said. Benjamin went on to comment: "We need to show that the lives of farmworkers are valued equally as any other person entering any vehicle. Our government must now show their commitment to farmworkers and [the] protection of the poor and vulnerable." He also urged the DA in the Western Cape to support the families of the deceased and injured. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jeanette Chabalala at News24 Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Public sector wage demands to be known at latest in February BL Premium reports that according to unions, the government will know at the latest in February what public sector workers’ demands are for the next round of wage negotiations. The tabling of the wage demands will come in the same month in which finance minister Tito Mboweni presents this year’s budget, which is expected to rely heavily on the wage freeze announced in October’s medium-term budget policy statement. In the Labour Appeal Court in December, the government won the battle over the state’s refusal to implement the final year of the three-year 2018 wage agreement on the grounds that it did not have the money and that it was unlawful. But, the unions have all indicated they will take the judgment on appeal to the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) because of its implications for collective bargaining. Reuben Maleka of the Public Servants Association, and Mugwena Maluleke, chief negotiator for the majority of Cosatu public sector unions, said last week they would file applications for leave to appeal the case to the ConCourt. The applications are set to be filed later in January. Meanwhile, the next round of wage negotiations must take place because no agreement has been signed for the financial year that will start on 1 April. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Claudi Mailovich at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
Death on Christmas Day of NUM general secretary David Sipunzi ews24 reports that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) general secretary David Sipunzi has died. In a statement, the NUM said that Sipunzi died at around 11:00 on Friday and that the cause of his death was presently unknown. NUM deputy general secretary William Mabapa advised that Sipunzi's family had confirmed his death to the trade union. "Comrade Sipunzi dedicated his entire life to the service of the mine, construction and energy workers in South Africa until his untimely death. He was a firm believer in the rights of the downtrodden and the voice of the voiceless," the NUM stated. Sipunzi started in the mining industry in 1985, the same year he joined the NUM. He quickly rose up the ranks and was elected NUM Free State regional secretary in 1999 and then NUM general secretary in 2015. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lwandile Bhengu at News24 Platinum producer Tharisa and three unions reach four-year wage agreement Mining Weekly reports that platinum group metals and chrome concentrate producer Tharisa in December concluded a four-year wage agreement with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Solidarity. The agreement, which is effective from 1 July 2020 to 20 June 2024, applies to employees who are subject to the bargaining units at the company's 74%-owned Tharisa mine, on the Western Limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex. "The agreement underpins the ongoing stability of Tharisa’s labour relations and allows the Tharisa mine to focus on growing the business for the benefit of all stakeholders," the company stated. Read the original of the short report in the above regard at Mining Weekly In a smoother process than after 2020 lock-down, SA’s mines bring hundreds of thousands of employees back to work after year-end break BL Premium reports that mining companies are applying the tough lessons they learnt in 2020 as they return 450,000 people to work after the year-end break. Unlike the return to work between April and August 2020 after SA was forced into a hard lockdown, bringing back miners after the Christmas break has been a smoother process. Mining companies were among the first sectors of the economy to return to full operations 2020 in carefully managed phases, governed by strict protocols laid down by the departments of health and mineral resources & energy. “The industry’s focus is back to prevention of infection, which is social distancing, masks and sanitation, as well as robust screening and testing protocols,” said Minerals Council of SA spokesperson Charmane Russell. “What we have this time around is the wonderful benefit of hindsight. All the systems that were in place 2020 are still in place but with improvements. This time it’s not so much about the learning how to cope with something we’ve never experienced before, but the doing,” Russell said. The majority of large mines have only been back at work for about a week, but others started earlier or worked right through the break. Sibanye-Stillwater spokesperson James Wellsted indicated: “It’s quicker this time round than the return to work in 2020. It’s less of a phased approach that was dictated by lockdown levels in 2020.” At Gold Fields’ South Deep, which has a complement of 4,053 people, there is a 90% return of staff. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Allan Seccombe at BusinessLive (paywall access only) Other labour / community posting(s) relating to mining
Bleak outlook for jobs despite marginal third-quarter uptick in formal sector jobs BL Premium reports that Stats SA’s latest quarterly employment statistics (QES) for July-September showed that formal-sector, non-farm jobs increased by 75,000 (0.8%) in the third quarter in comparison with the second quarter, when SA had been in a hard lockdown and those jobs declined 6.4%. But on an annual basis, the picture is far bleaker as formal-sector jobs decreased by 616,000, or 6%, in the third quarter compared with the same period in 2019. The QES, released on Tuesday, measures employment in the formal, non-agriculture sector across 20,000 businesses, ranging from factories to local government entities. The QES does not include informal, agricultural or domestic service workers. On a year-on-year basis, all industries recorded declines in employment, with the most job losses reported in business services and trade. Meanwhile, gross earnings fell 6.1% in the third quarter from the year before, due to declines in basic salary payments as well as reductions in bonus and overtime payments. Absa economists Peter Worthington and Miyelani Maluleke commented that further retrenchments were far from over”. They added that many firms were likely to reduce headcount further, particularly in vulnerable sectors such as tourism, where recovery was likely to be slow. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lynley Donnelly at BusinessLive (paywall access only) Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Labour Court dismisses SAA pilots' urgent application against their lockout Fin24 reports that on 29 December 2020, the Labour Court in Johannesburg dismissed an urgent application on behalf of the SAA Pilots' Association (SAAPA) to have the "lockout" of its members by the business rescue practitioners (BRPs) of SA Airways (SAA) declared unlawful or unprotected. The BRPs opposed the urgent application and SAAPA was found to have failed to establish a clear right to the relief it was seeking. A key sticking point for SAAPA was that the airline sought, in terms of the lockout notice, to forego the rights afforded to them in a decades-old regulating agreement, which included recall, payment and selection criteria provisions. SAAPA members were "locked out" on 18 December after negotiations on a new agreement failed and all internal dispute processes had been exhausted. SAAPA argued in its application that it was many years of mismanagement which caused the demise of SAA and not because of the pilots' regulating agreement. SAA has in the past launched applications in the Labour Court and the High Court to try and set aside the regulating agreement. These applications were suspended when SAA was placed under business rescue. A so-called "evergreen" clause in SAAPA’s regulating agreement means that, notwithstanding any changes in ownership of SAA, the agreement will remain in full operation and can only be terminated if a new agreement is concluded between the parties or it is terminated by agreement. In the view of the BRPs, it was neither desirable nor sustainable that the pilots could carry their historical benefits as embedded in the regulating agreement into the future. According to the BRPs, concluding new terms and conditions of employment for pilots was material to the very success of SAA's business rescue and continued commercial viability. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Carin Smith at Fin24 Desperate SAA pilots who left locked-out union to get 13th cheques and backpay still haven't been paid Fin24 reports that the SAA Pilots' Association (Saapa) wants to know why – unlike other employees at state-owned SA Airways (SAA) – their 13th cheques for 2019 have not yet been paid from the R1.5 billion in funding that the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) made available to the business rescue practitioners (BRPs) in December. Saapa is adamant that the 2019 13th cheques due to its members are payable regardless of the union having been placed in lockout. Members of Saapa have been locked out since 18 December 2020 by the BRPs, who want Saapa to agree to cancel their current regulating agreement and accept new terms of employment. A lockout means an employer is not obliged to pay salaries from the date of the lockout. The BRPs stopped paying SAA employees their salaries in May, claiming they had no more money to do so. Unlike other unions represented at SAA, Saapa (and also the National Union of Metalworkers of SA and the SA Cabin Crew Association) has not yet signed an offer of three months' salaries as full and final settlement of backpay. Saapa chair captain Grant Back stated: "We are in a dramatically different position to Numsa and Sacca and all other employees in that we have been locked out, while those employees are all still accruing unpaid salaries as the rescue process drags on. All other employees had been allowed to take up the salary settlement and have been paid their 2020 13th cheques where Saapa members have not even been paid their 2019 13th cheques. These cheques are not bonuses but are guaranteed as part of the employees' total cost of employment." According to Back, some pilots resigned from Saapa recently in desperation in order to try and secure payment of the salary settlement amount. He claimed that those who then signed the DPE’s three-month backpay offer have not received that payment nor their 2019 13th cheques. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Carin Smith at Fin24
SABC concludes redundancy talks with unions, plans now to cut about 10% of workforce Fin24 reports that according to the SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), it has concluded its consultation process over the company's restructure plan, with the number of employees to be made redundant now reduced to 303, about 10% of its workforce. The implementation of the process is part of the broadcaster's turnaround plan which has been plagued by several hurdles. On Thursday, the SABC said it had held numerous engagements with unions facilitated by an independent labour expert, in accordance with an agreement reached between the board, government and unions. "After considering all options to minimise the total number of affected employees, the SABC has further reduced the number of affected redundant employees to 303", which was said by the corporation to be "just under half of the originally projected 600 redundancies." The SABC has a staff compliment of just under 3,000 people. The redundancies are dependent on the acceptance of the proposed alternatives and the number of employees who will opt for voluntary severance packages and early retirement. In November, workers angered by the issue of redundancy notices embarked on lunch-time pickets. The Labour Court in December dismissed an urgent application by the Broadcast, Electronic, Media and Allied Workers Union (Bemawu) to have the process declared irregular and invalid. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said the latest development was far from a "victory for workers". General secretary Aubrey Tshabalala said the union still stood by its "no retrenchment position" and described the recently concluded engagements as a" hostile process" only aimed at meeting the deadline. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sibongile Khumalo at Fin24. Read too, ANC, unions slam SABC plan to axe 303 workers, at SowetanLive
Office of Limpopo premier ordered to pay R1.4m to unsuccessful applicant who lost job to candidate with bogus qualifications News24 reports that the Office of the Premier in Limpopo has been ordered to pay the equivalent of 12 months' salary to an employee who was overlooked for a senior position in favour of a candidate who apparently misrepresented his academic qualifications. The order by the General Public Service Sector Bargaining Council stipulates that the employee, Moipone Mathole, be paid by 31 January. The position of senior manager for human resources comes with a salary of R1.4 million per year. The post was originally advertised in September 2012 and 143 candidates applied. Seven of them, including Mathole, were shortlisted and interviewed. After the interviews, Mathole obtained the highest score, but the post was re-advertised with 72 applications received and four candidates shortlisted and interviewed. Mathole re-applied, but was not shortlisted nor invited for an interview. Nonetheless, she was sent for a competency test together with Michael Maseko, who was later appointed to the position. It then emerged that Maseko had misrepresented academic qualifications in his curriculum vitae by stating that the four-month course he undertook was a diploma. The qualification could also not be verified because the college concerned had since closed down. The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union welcomed the arbitration award, although it indicated that the decision to reverse Maseko's appointment would be challenged in the Labour Court. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Russel Molefe at News24
Eskom ordered by CCMA to pay the accrued special allowances of employees lured to work at remote power stations BusinessLive reports that Eskom has been ordered by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to pay accrued special allowances due to its employees who work at remote power stations. Solidarity sector co-ordinator for electrical Tommy Wedderspoon reported that the allowances related to medical benefits and the education of employees’ children at boarding schools and that they affected about 1,000 to 2,000 employees who had been encouraged by means of the allowances to work at remote power stations, which in some cases were nowhere near a town. He said the allowances had been paid for many years before their unilateral termination by Eskom in November 2017 without Eskom having followed the required consultation process. The payments were part of the conditions of service. Wedderspoon said the CCMA ruling in December stipulated that the conditions of service as per the original employment contracts must also be reinstated immediately. Eskom reacted by commenting as follows: “We are currently studying the award and consulting our legal advisors. We will evaluate our legal options and take a decision on how to proceed. All our legal rights are reserved.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Khusela Diko faces disciplinary hearing for failure to disclose financial interests BL Premium reports that according to the Presidency, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Khusela Diko, is to face an internal disciplinary process after failing to disclose her financial interests. The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has been probing suspicious Covid-19 contracts in Gauteng and elsewhere after widespread allegations of nepotism and corruption. Diko, who has been on special leave since last July, was implicated in the irregular awarding of two contracts by the Gauteng department of health to Royal Bhaca, a company in which her husband is a director. The Presidency said that while the corruption component of the investigation was still ongoing and had so far not obtained any evidence pointing to Diko’s involvement in the awarding of the two contracts, during its investigation the SIU identified a concern regarding Diko’s duty to disclose all her financial interests. The Presidency said the relevant processes prescribed in the public service regulations would be triggered and handled by the Presidency’s acting director-genera, including consideration of whether Diko should remain on special leave or be formally suspended pending the disciplinary process. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Bekezela Phakathi at BusinessLive (paywall access only) Other internet posting(s) in this news category
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