In our Wednesday morning roundup, see
summaries of our selection of recent South African
labour-related reports.
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Employers in metals and engineering sector to lock out workers if Numsa embarks on wage strike on 5 October BL Premium reports that employers in the metals and engineering industries are bracing for the worst as the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has indicated that it will strike from 5 October for better pay in the sector. Employers have voted for a lockout should the strike by the union go ahead. A lockout entails an employer refusing employees access to the workplace, effectively rendering it impossible for any workers to perform their duties and get paid. Numsa, which represents about 432,000 workers, recently announced the intended strike in a bid to secure above-inflation increases in the struggling metals and engineering sector. The sector, which has been a victim of declining prices due to an increase in cheap imports, accounts for about 1.5% of GDP and employs about 190,000 people. Numsa initially demanded a one-year, 15% pay increase across the board, but in August revised it down to 8% after declaring a dispute at the Metals and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC). The union turned down Seifsa’s proposal for a 4.4% increase in 2021, and inflation-related increases in 2022 and 2023. Lucio Trentini, CEO of the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of SA (Seifsa), indicated: “We have already balloted Seifsa members across the board for the possibility of a lockout in the event it should become necessary. The result of the ballot is overwhelming support for that action should it become necessary.” But he added that Seifsa still believed a settlement was possible because “a strike is not in anyone’s best interests”. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
Naspers weighs mandatory Covid-19 jabs for SA staff Bloomberg News reports that Naspers is considering making Covid-19 vaccines mandatory for SA staff after the country’s largest medical scheme administrator took the step earlier in September. Africa’s largest company by market value is mulling the decision to enable employees to travel safely, Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, head of Naspers SA, told the Nation Brand Forum on Tuesday. Discovery, which is involved in the country’s vaccine rollout, will make inoculations compulsory for all staff from the start of 2022. “We are watching Discovery and seeing what they are doing because we would like to have something similar,” Mahanyele-Dabengwa indicated. Read the original of the short report in the above regard by S'thembile Cele at BusinessLive Stellenbosch University considering mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations for staff and students News24 reports that Stellenbosch University (SU) has confirmed it will be looking into mandatory vaccination for students ahead of the 2022 academic year. The university held its third council meeting on Monday and Rector and Vice-Chancellor Wim de Villiers told the council it was an institutional priority for the university that all its staff and students should be vaccinated against Covid-19. De Villiers confirmed that SU was exploring the possibility of mandatory vaccination, taking from the experience of other institutions and organisations in SA and worldwide. In addition, SU's Institutional Committee for Business Continuity (ICBC) appointed a task team on 27 August to conduct the risk assessment required in terms of a health and safety direction promulgated in June. SU chief operating officer Stan du Plessis reported to the council that 518 staff members, 2,236 students and 1,472 members of the community had received jabs at the institution since 10 August, while many others continued to make use of vaccination facilities elsewhere. Du Plessis indicated: “A vaccine rule will determine the extent to which staff and students can work and study at the university, depending on their vaccination status. It will describe the expectation, as well as the criteria for exceptions.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Marvin Charles at News24. Lees ook, Entstof dalk binnekort verpligtend vir Maties, by Maroela Media Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Pietermaritzburg traffic officers shut down City Hall on Tuesday over grievances The Witness reports that Msunduzi traffic officers shut down the Pietermaritzburg City Hall on Tuesday demanding that the municipal management should respond to their grievances. At around midday, the group, most of whom were dressed in their uniforms, were still occupying the main foyer where they were staging a mini picket with struggle songs ringing through the City Hall's corridors. Sources at the scene said the group was demanding to see the municipal manager Madoda Khathide and Mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla. It had previously been reported that the City's traffic officers had complaints about tools of trade, vacancies and general unfair labour practices in the public safety department. The officers on Tuesday took their demand for tools of trade to the mayor’s office. They said they wanted firearms, radios and transparency in recruitment processes and had previously given the municipality a deadline to deliver on their demands. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Siyamtanda Capa and Nokuthula Ntuli at The Witness (subscriber access only) Residents in Virginia in Free State town protest over unemployment, saying they’re ‘sick and tired of sitting at home' News24 reports that angry Virginia residents protested on Tuesday afternoon, mainly over the unemployment rate in the Free State region. Free State police said there were no reported incidents. Resident Sekete Maqhosha alleged that the high employment rate in the gold mining town was caused by corruption in mining companies. "We are concerned that there is a lot of corruption, especially at Sibanye and Harmony. Most of the people employed by these companies are people who have money to bribe, so they can get the jobs," he claimed. Residents resorted to a protest in the hope of being heard. “We are sick and tired of sitting at home," Maqhosha said. Mining company Sibanye-Stillwater said there had been threats by some sections of the community, who were operating outside of existing long-standing community structures, and had only recently emerged purporting to represent communities and threatening to shut down the operations. Spokesperson James Wellsted said the company was happy to engage at any time with credible community organisations through established structures and channels. Harmony spokesperson Sihle Maake said they were not aware of the shutdown, but there were set forums that ran consistent engagements with the community. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Cebelihle Mthethwa at News24
Mining Charter High Court reversal “is not a train smash”, upbeat Gwede Mantashe tells investment conference Miningmx reports that Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) Minister Gwede Mantashe, described last week’s court reverse on his Mining Charter as “not a train smash”. But he stopped short of saying whether the DMRE would launch a legal appeal. “We had a case last week where we lost a case about ‘once empowered, always empowered’. It’s not a train smash. It is not an issue of ‘once empowered, always empowered’ or the opposite. It is a case of whether the mining industry is creating new black capitalists or not,” Mantashe told the Limpopo Provincial Mining Investment Conference during a keynote speech on Tuesday. On 21 September, the High Court ruled that the Mining Charter was an instrument of policy that did not entitle Mantashe to make law through it. This meant controversial new target on procurement and empowerment holdings that were introduced by Mantashe in the 2018 Mining Charter were not applicable. In his address, Mantashe also called on mining companies to work together more effectively on implementing labour and social plans. They ought to be pooled together and applied to ‘impact’ projects, he indicated. Clearly not feeling the effects of the High Court reverse, Mantashe was in combative mood, delivering a recommendation to the mining sector that it was “no longer fashionable” to employ foreign workers more than South African workers. “It is a luxury to fly foreign workers in,” he stated. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by David McKay at Miningmx
More than 80,000 formal jobs lost in the second quarter of 2021 Fin24 reports that the latest Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES) survey released by Statistics SA on Tuesday showed that the number of people employed in the formal, non-agricultural sector fell by 86,000 from the first to the second quarter to around 9.57 million. But by the end of June this year, there were 60,000 more people employed than in June 2020, when SA started to emerge from a hard lockdown. Compared to the first quarter, employment in community services (-65,000), manufacturing (-15,000) and construction (-7,000) saw the biggest declines. But the mining sector employed 2,000 more people, and the transport industry increased employment by 1,000. Full-time employment decreased by 17,000 positions (to 8.6 million) between the first and second quarters, while part-time employment fell by 59,000 to 991,000. Commenting on the QES data, economist Chifi Mhango said the current employment trends suggested that not enough jobs are being created in high-impact sectors of the SA economy such as construction and manufacturing. While total employee earnings remained flat between the first and second quarter, earnings were almost 11% higher in June 2021 than in June 2020. Basic salary and wages increased by 9% in the year to June 2021, while bonus and overtime payments increased by 33%. Year-on-year, average monthly earnings paid to employees in the formal non-agricultural sector increased by almost 10%. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Fin24 In 2020, tourism sector lost R164bn and close to a million jobs supported by the industry Moneyweb reports that SA’s tourism sector lost an estimated R164 billion in spending by domestic and inbound visitors to the country in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Bureau for Economic Research (BER) at the University of Stellenbosch indicated on Monday that the number of jobs supported by SA’s tourism industry declined by 960,000 to 640,000 in 2020, from 1.6 million in 2018, as spending by domestic and inbound visitors slumped to R109 billion in 2020 from R273 billion in 2018. The bureau said internal tourism expenditure totalled R273 billion in 2018, with domestic spending representing the bulk of this spending at 56.1%. The BER further estimated that based on tourism expenditure in 2020, the sector’s contribution to GDP shrank to 2.9% in 2020 from 7.2% in 2018. “The tourism sector is without a doubt one of the industries that has been hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic,” the BER said. Tourism Business Council CEO Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa said the World Travel and Tourism Council estimated that a total of 470,000 jobs out of a total 1.5 million jobs in the sector had been lost. He said the sector was now in a situation where people were going to work but were not getting paid their normal pre-Covid-19 wages because the sector had not returned to normal. “The majority of them work over the weekend only, because the demand is not that high and a lot of places are receiving tourists only over the weekend,” Tshivhengwa advised. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Roy Cokayne at Moneyweb. Read too, Light at end of tourism tunnel as SA exits its third Covid-19 wave, at Business Report Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Public Servants Association welcomes appointment of Thobakgale as acting DCS national commissioner EWN reports that the Public Servants Association (PSA) has welcomed the appointment of Makgothi Thobakgale as the acting National Commissioner for the Department of Correctional Services (DCS). Justice Minister Ronald Lamola announced Thobakgale's appointment on Monday. He replaces Arthur Fraser, whose contract was not renewed. Thobakgale has 17 years of senior management experience in public service. The PSA said that it hoped that his appointment would restore the dented integrity of the DCS. Spokesperson Reuben Maleka remarked: "We note his wide experience in the public service, his qualification in finance. We believe that Commissioner Thobakgale will have to deal with huge and serious challenges that are facing the Department of Correctional Services." Read the original of the short report in the above regard by Thando Kubheka at EWN
Solidarity announces 'settlement' in Post Office medical aid contributions case Fin24 reports that trade union Solidarity indicated on Tuesday that it had reached a "settlement" with the SA Post Office (SAPO) and MEDiPOS in an ongoing storm over medical aid contributions and that this settlement had been ratified as a court order by the Labour Court in Johannesburg. This came after Solidarity brought an urgent application in the Labour Court against SAPO. Solidarity had sought an order compelling SAPO to pay medical aid contributions in arrears to the extent of more than R600 million to MEDiPOS. The medical aid warned in recent weeks that if the contributions of members were not paid, SAPO employees ran the risk of losing their medical aid benefits. Solidarity said in a statement released on Tuesday that it would not have been possible for SAPO employees to receive any further benefits from MEDiPOS with effect from October. "For months SAPO failed to pay the full member contributions to the fund on behalf its employees while the deductions still appeared on the employees' payslips. The urgent application was scheduled to be heard [on Tuesday]," the statement indicated. Solidarity reported that in exchange for minimum payments, MEDiPOS would sustain the employees' medical cover provided that the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) approved the settlement agreement. "The agreement further stipulates that if the CMS does not grant its permission for the implementation of the agreement, the court application would again be placed on the Labour Court roll [to be heard] at the end of November," the union’s statement advised. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khulekani Magubane at Fin24. Lees ook, Solidariteit, Poskantoor bereik skikking, by Maroela Media Sizwe, Hosmed get green light to merge, creating SA’s eighth largest open medical scheme Personal Finance reports that the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) has approved the merger of Hosmed Medical Scheme and Sizwe Medical Fund, to form what will be known as Sizwe Hosmed Medical Scheme. It will be SA’s eighth-largest open medical scheme. The merger brings together Sizwe’s 46,900 members with Hosmed’s 21,000. Developments in recent years have placed pressure on smaller medical funds, which in turn have resulted in consolidations. These include a review of the Prescribed Minimum Benefits package, the government’s drive towards implementing National Health Insurance, and an expected increase in claims in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. “This merger is mutually beneficial to both schemes, where the combined balance sheet and increased membership size can unlock efficiencies and economies of scale to the benefit of all members. Sizwe Hosmed members will benefit through a reduction in non-healthcare expenses attributed to reduced operational scheme expenses,” Dr Simon Mangcwatywa, Sizwe Hosmed’s principal executive officer, commented. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Martin Hesse at Independent Media
Former Swartruggens bank employee gets suspended sentence of eight years for fraud, money laundering News24 reports that a 29-year-old former bank employee in Swartruggens, in the North West, has been sentenced to eight years for three counts of fraud and seven of money laundering. Nonhlanhla Matinyane was sentenced in the Swartruggens Regional Court on Tuesday. Police spokesperson Colonel Adéle Myburgh reported: "Whilst working at the bank, Matinyane illegally transferred money, amounting to R536,000, to three different accounts belonging to family members and an unsuspecting account holder, from one of the bank account holders who won the lottery. This was done without the account holder's knowledge." Myburgh went on to explain: "The bank investigating team noticed these huge transfers and contacted the account holder. The 49-year-old victim had no knowledge of these transfers because she did not receive any notifications as the accused blocked her phone from receiving bank notifications." The accused was sentenced to five years imprisonment for fraud and three years for money laundering, wholly suspended for five years. The court also ordered that she must pay back to the bank an amount of R17,500 that couldn’t be retrieved. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jeanette Chabalala at News24
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