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 morning roundup, see summaries
of our selection of recent South African labour-
labour-related reports.
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DA to bring PAIA applications to get more information from government about Cubans employed in SA News24 reports that the Democratic Alliance (DA) wants the government to come clean on its agreements with Cuba to employ its citizens in South Africa, which has cost the government more than R1.4 billion. "The DA will submit Promotion of Access to Information Act [PAIA] applications to various government departments to obtain the full details of employment agreements between the South African and Cuban governments," DA chief whip Natasha Mazzone advised in a statement on Tuesday. Earlier this month, it was reported that a series of answers to parliamentary questions posed by the DA revealed that five departments - basic education; public works; health; human settlements, water and sanitation; and defence - have employed Cubans at a cost of R1.4 billion since 2010. "R1.4 billion is a large amount of money, and there is very little detail on these employment agreements," Mazzone pointed out. The DA intends to seek a full breakdown of the payments to the Cuban workers, including salaries, accommodation and travelling fees; information on whether payments are made directly to the workers or if payments are made to the Cuban government; and information on whether skills audits were undertaken to find out what critical skills were needed that local professionals did not have. "The DA does not believe that these agreements are completely as straightforward as the government would like the public to believe," Mazzone stated. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jan Gerber at News24. Lees ook, DA gaan Paia gebruik om inligting oor Kubane te vra, by Maroela Media
Companies could legally fire you for not vaccinating, says public health lawyer The Citizen writes that SA’s trade union movement could soon find itself at loggerheads with employers over some workers refusing to be vaccinated against Covid. This despite a public assurance by President Cyril Ramaphosa that inoculation was not mandatory. According to public health lawyer Safura Abdool Karim, companies had an obligation “to create a safe working space for their employees” – in line with the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and a directive issued by the Department of Employment and Labour. He advised further: “Part of that (obligation) can include mandatory Covid vaccination for employees. Companies choosing to terminate employment of workers for not vaccinating do have a legal basis upon which to do so. There is a case for employees who have a medical condition preventing them from working in a particular environment. Companies are compelled to make a reasonable accommodation for such employees, like allowing them to work from home.” But with some businesses expected to invoke OHSA in instances of employees rejecting vaccination, labour federation Cosatu has warned that no employer has a right to dismiss workers over non-vaccination. Spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said: “The ministerial direction is specific that no worker can be forced to vaccinate or be dismissed for refusing a vaccine. We will use the [Labour Relations Act] and the constitution to defend workers.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Brian Sokutu at The Citizen Basic education department reserves right to ‘deal with’ teachers who refuse vaccination The Star reports that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) has threatened to invoke operational requirements and incapacity clauses in the Labour Relations Act (LRA) against teachers opting not to vaccinate against Covid-19 infections. A circular that director-general Mathanzima Mweli sent to schools on Friday indicated that the department reserved the right to “deal” with teachers choosing not to vaccinate. It read: “After considering the educators’ reasons for opting not to be vaccinated (on grounds) such as medical, religious, constitutional, cultural and comorbidity, the employer reserves the right to deal with such educators in terms of either operational requirements, incapacity procedures as contemplated in terms of the Labour Relations Act, No 66 of 1998 read in conjunction with the Employment of Educators, No 76 of 1998.” The circular advised that teachers who opted not to vaccinate on medical grounds would be required to “submit a detailed medical report indicating that a vaccine will pose a health hazard to him/her”. Basil Manuel of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA (Naptosa) commented that the DBE was basically threatening to axe teachers choosing to exercise their constitutional right not to vaccinate. “As soon as you talk about the LRA, you’re talking about dismissals. For a state department to be talking about that now is an overreach,” Manuel noted. He reported that unions had rejected the DBE’s overtures around dealing with non-vaccinating teachers in the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC). He urged the department to issue a measured circular on the matter. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Bongani Nkosi at The Star Unions should push harder for teachers to get vaccinated against Covid-19 GroundUp writes that schools reopened on Monday with over 430,000 teachers vaccinated against Covid-19, which was good news. But many tens of thousands of teachers remain unvaccinated. GroundUp says that both the education department and unions should be doing more to get hesitant teachers vaccinated. Unfortunately, prevarication and mixed messages are not helping. Teachers who choose not to get vaccinated put themselves at risk of dying or becoming extremely ill from Covid. They also put their vaccinated colleagues at risk, because although the vaccines are very good, they are not 100% effective. Unvaccinated teachers risk infecting learners who could then infect their family and friends. The argument that everyone in a workplace has the right to choose whether or not to get a Covid-19 vaccine would have some merit if people didn’t breathe in each other’s germs. But they do. On Friday, the education department issued a circular on what to do about teachers who refused to get vaccinated. To describe it as confusing is an understatement. On Saturday, Naptosa published its views on the department’s circular, but unfortunately the teaching union’s statement was also confused. To its credit, Sadtu, the largest teaching union, has stated: “A responsible education worker takes the jab. Let’s vaccinate to save lives.” This is the kind of unequivocal messaging that is needed. Unvaccinated teachers present a serious risk to themselves and their colleagues. They need to be urged to get vaccinated, not indulged, GroundUp says Read this article in full at GroundUp
Saftu says social relief grant of R350 is an insult to the poor The Star reports that the return of the R350 grant for the unemployed has left the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) with a bitter taste in the mouth, with the organisation calling the grant an “insult to the poor”. This after President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday announced several measures to boost the economy, which has taken a blow due to a number of lockdown restrictions related to a surge in Covid-19 cases. The R350 grant, titled the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant and administered by the SA Social Security Agency, will be reinstated until March next year and will also be extended to unemployed caregivers who received child support grants. Saftu spokesperson Trevor Shaku said the trade union federation proposed a R1,200 grant for the unemployed. “We are saying R350 is too little. It’s not even near the poverty line. We want the social relief to be lifted. That (R350) means people would live on R11 per day. No one can live on that,” Shaku said. He added: “The question of unemployment is a problem. If people could have enough money to eat, they would not go and loot malls. If they give people that money, there will be a greater demand for household goods and consumables, and this will increase the production of goods and labour, so this will solve the question of job creation.” Cosatu welcomed the return of the R350 grant for the unemployed, but expressed its concerns about the impact of the lockdown restrictions on the economy and business. Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu said the current R350 relief grant was setting the tone for the debate over the basic income grant that was being discussed by the government and her department. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Rapula Moatshe at Pretoria News. Read too, Covid grant should be R585, so everyone can afford to eat, says Black Sash, at GroundUp Another R50m paid to artists and athletes in relief funds Independent Media reports that the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture has paid more than R50 million to artists and athletes as part of the third phase of relief funds that totalled about R70m. Briefing the sport, arts and culture portfolio committee on Tuesday, deputy director-general Cynthia Khumalo said they had concluded the adjudication of applications. “As at July 22 the total number of individual applications was 7,446 from the arts and culture sectors,” Khumalo advised. She indicated that 1,167 of the applications had been duplicates, resulting in 7,220 being adjudicated. Khumalo also said 6,332 artists had been approved by adjudicators, while 763 applications had been declined. “A lot of effort was expended in ensuring that as many of the applicants that had put through their applications received funding and were adjudicated, and positive results followed. The total number of rejected applications sits at fewer than 1,000,” Khumalo advised. She added that 5,100 applications had each been successfully paid R10,000. A total of R51m had been paid to the beneficiaries at the time of preparation of her report on 22 July. Khumalo said the 5,100 successfully-paid artists excluded about 252 who were being followed up on due to their bank accounts being closed, or them having provided incomplete information. “A total of 303 were being processed at the time of reporting,” she said. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mayibongwe Maqhina at Independent Media. Read too, Mthethwa dismisses claims that nothing done for artists as ’propaganda’, at Independent Media Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Wage agreement not ideal, say public sector unions, but good for now BL Premium reports that public sector trade unions that have reached a wage agreement with the government say that they have given government “breathing space” for 2021, but will negotiate hard to win proper cost-of-living increases in 2022. While not all trade unions signed the offer, a majority of worker representatives had signed the deal by Monday, making it binding on all parties. It includes a 1.5% pay progression increase (which is a standard condition of service) as well as a cash gratuity of R1,000 cash after tax, for all workers below the management level. Naptosa’s Basil Manuel said the cash gratuity was a very attractive offer at a time when “the shoe was pinching” as workers entered their second year without a wage increase. He went on to comment: “We have to acknowledge it’s not the ideal agreement; it is an agreement we have accepted in terms of where we are today... This time around, we have Covid-19, we have an economy looking bleaker by the minute. We could not pretend to the SA public that we don’t see that. The fact that we have settled is an indication that we, too, are concerned about SA.” At a briefing on Tuesday, unions noted that the fight had been deferred to the next round of negotiations, which starts in September. But, by offering such a generous cash gratuity, Public Service and Administration Minister Senzo Mchunu might have made his starting position for the next round difficult. Most employees, with the exception of those in the uppermost band, will benefit a lot more from the R1,000 gratuity than they would have had they got a CPI-related increase. The lowest paid received the equivalent of 11%. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Carol Paton at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
Minerals Council and unions reaffirm mining industry’s willingness to boost vaccination rollout Mining Weekly reports that the Minerals Council SA and several labour unions have reiterated their support for SA’s national Covid-19 vaccination programme and have urged all industry employees to choose to get vaccinated as soon as they have the opportunity to do so. The labour unions include the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, the National Union of Mineworkers, Solidarity and Uasa. The parties have indicated their support for the national #IChooseVacciNation campaign, while noting that vaccination was voluntary and that no employee would be coerced into getting vaccinate or discriminated against if they did not get vaccinated. The mining industry’s vaccination programme is being undertaken under the Department of Health’s (DoH’s) occupational health site programme, through which 14 primary sites and 18 permanent and temporary outreach sites are currently operational. Through the mining industry’s endeavours, about 34,000 employees and contractors have been vaccinated to date. These includes healthcare workers vaccinated under the Sisonke programme. In addition, a further 15 primary sites and five permanent and temporary outreach sites have received the requisite permits from the DoH and are expecting to be operational in the next two weeks. A further 27 primary sites have applied for registration. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly Exxaro Resources rolls out vaccination drive at Matla coal mine Mining Weekly reports that diversified miner Exxaro Resources has launched a Covid-19 vaccination rollout programme at its Matla coal mine in Mpumalanga. The launch of the rollout programme is part of a national campaign under the auspices of the Department of Health in partnership with the Mpumalanga Department of Health and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy. Mpumalanga Premier Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane, Mpumalanga Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu and Mpumalanga Department of Health head Dr Savera Mohangi attended the launch of the programme at the Matla mine on 27 July. Exxaro group health and safety manager Dr Joseph Matjila said that combatting the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on SA was not limited only to the mine's boundaries and, while its interventions were primarily focused on its mine employees, members of host communities could also use the facilities to be vaccinated. Exxaro rolled out a similar initiative at its Grootegeluk coal mine, in Limpopo, during the week of 19 to 25 July. More than 1 000 people were vaccinated on the day of the launch at Grootegeluk, when Exxaro hosted Limpopo Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly Other labour / community posting(s) relating to mining
Other general posting(s) relating to mining
Tension brewing over the recruitment of workers for City of Cape Town EPWP jobs Cape Argus reports that tensions are brewing between residents and community structures in Thembokwezi, Khayelitsha, over the recruitment of workers for Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) jobs. The residents have accused the community structure of employing pensioners, friends and family, while overlooking those who desperately needed jobs and were registered on the City's database. Nolubabalo Sillie said the residents demanded a proper process that would allow residents equal opportunity of being recruited. “We want a proper process to be followed and also that the number of workers from the three areas be balanced. Currently of the 45 people who have been recruited 35 are from Khwezi and are all Neighbourhood Watch members, nine in Bongweni and one in Thembani. It is not fair for us to register on the database and wait to be called only for them to give the jobs to people who serve the Neighbourhood Watch,” Sillie complained. Kwezi Neighbourhood Watch chairperson Neliswa Mbovana refused to comment and referred questions to Mayor Dan Plato, whom she said was aware of the criteria used to recruit workers. City spokesperson Luthando Thyalibhongo said the City was looking into the particulars of the matter and would respond in due course. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mthuthuzeli Ntseku at Cape Argus
ANC pays its staff for June, but says July’s salaries, which were due on Sunday, will be delayed TimesLIVE reports that the African National Congress (ANC) has finally paid its employees their June salaries, but has yet to pay what it owes them for July. Staff at Luthuli House in Johannesburg and provincial offices have gone unpaid for two months as the ANC struggled to find money to run its operations. Although a memo from management said employees would be paid by close of business on Monday, payment only came through on Tuesday morning. In the memo to staff last week, general manager Febe Potgieter said: “Unfortunately, July 2021 salaries, due on the 25th of this month, will be delayed.” She apologised, but noted that this was the first time since the party ran into money problems that salaries had been delayed by two months. It was reported last week that employees had given the party until the end of July to get its finances in order, pay their outstanding salaries, ensure medical payments were up to date and, most importantly, clear all pension and provident fund arrears. Staff representative Mvusi Mdala said the nonpayment of retirement benefit contributions, while being deducted from their salaries, was a criminal offence. He indicated: “We have given the leadership of the ANC until the end of July to pay up. Failing that, we’ve got other options. One is to take it to the ombudsman. The other option we might consider is to approach the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) if we [get no] joy at the ombudsman or the CCMA.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Kgothatso Madisa at TimesLIVE. Read too, ANC’s R18 million salary bill is not sustainable, on page 4 of City Press of 25 July 2021. And also, ANC Luthuli House staff ‘forced back into poverty’, at The Star
'Calm and order' on Cape Town public transport restored after taxi route closed Cape Argus reports that news of calm and order being restored on all public transport routes in Cape Town since the closure of the B97 route between Paarl and Bellville on Monday has been lauded. Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz welcomed the news that there were no disruptions and added that “a lot of planning went into readiness to react to ensure calm and order in our public transport yesterday (Monday), especially since we received intelligence of plans by criminal elements in response to the closure of route B97.” Meanwhile, a 38-year-old taxi driver was arrested in Nyanga at a Vehicle Check Point on Monday. After the driver’s taxi was searched and a 9mm pistol with ammunition was found, the driver was arrested when he was unable to provide a licence for the firearm. The suspect is expected to appear in the Athlone Magistrate’s Court soon. Fritz commented: “That’s very good news. I treat every single report of the confiscation of illegal firearms as very good news. Illegal firearms is a real problem in our society. But the fact that it was confiscated from a taxi driver at this time makes it all the more significant. It shows that our law enforcement agencies are working.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Cape Argus. Read too, Taxis impounded as police enforce route closure over Cape taxi war, at TimesLIVE. And also, UDM and Saftu intervene in taxi violence, at Weekend Argus Other internet posting(s) in this news category
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