In our Wednesday morning roundup, see
summaries of our selection of recent South African
labour-related reports.
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Sapref workers rescued on Tuesday from flooded refinery in Durban TimesLive reports that a rescue mission took place on Tuesday at Sapref, a major crude oil refinery south of Durban, where workers were airlifted from the plant which was flooded during torrential rain. A worker made an urgent plea for help on a Facebook page, writing: “We need help at Sapref. Phone someone please. We really need to get out. Please help us.” Images showed large parts of the refinery plant submerged. Some people posted that they were seeking refuge on the roof while they waited to be airlifted to safety. Sapref, SA’s largest crude oil refinery, is midway through a shutdown. Petroleum companies Shell and BP paused operations at the end of March while they tried to find a buyer. A source with knowledge of operations said the flooding would not affect fuel supply as it was being imported. Sapref’s sustainable development manager, Hlengiwe Hlela, advised that employees managed to evacuate the buildings to higher ground and no injuries were reported. Workers at paper and packaging manufacturer Mondi, located in flood-ravaged Merebank, a few kilometres from Sapref, were also evacuated. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Suthentira Govender at BusinessLive. Lees ook, Dele van KZN kry 300 mm in een dag, by Maropela Media Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Numsa says bus passenger sector strike likely as talks continue to stall EWN reports that according to the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), wage talks in the bus passenger sector continue to be stalled, with no new offer from the employer. The union secured a strike certificate after wage talks deadlocked last month, with the cooling-off period ending on 14 April, two days before Good Friday weekend. Numsa’s spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said that its demands, which include increasing the lowest-paid worker's salary from R7,800 to R12,000 per month, remained the same. "If this continues, in all likelihood we are headed for a strike in the bus passenger sector. It will be a national strike that affects all buses in the sector. However, we are still open to negotiating with the employer. We would prefer a situation where we do not have to go on strike," Hlubi-Majola said. Both parties were expected to meet again on Tuesday under the auspices of the SA Road Passenger Bargaining Council. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Masechaba Sefularo at EWN Chinese e-hailing platform DiDi ditches SA, shortly after a drivers’ strike Fin24 reports that after just one year in SA, the Chinese e-hailing platform DiDi has seemingly halted its services. DiDi started operations in the Eastern Cape last year and expanded to cities in Gauteng and the Western Cape. While it offered ride-hailing services similar to those of Uber and Bolt, it also offered passengers the option of negotiating fares and keeping in contact with drivers whom they preferred. Uber owns about 13% of DiDi. Last week, drivers on the DiDi platform received a notification that the application's service in SA would be discontinued from 8 April. The notification also served as a 14-day notice of the termination of agreements with drivers. Convenor of the Unity in Diversity coalition of drivers, Melithemba Mnguni, confirmed that DiDi was no longer operating. DiDi did not respond to requests for comment on its exit from the SA market. Last month, SA e-hailing drivers took part in a strike aimed at forcing Uber, Bolt and DiDi to improve their conditions of employment. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khulekani Magubane at Fin24
Unions start wage talks with platinum producers Bloomberg reports that unions have started wage negotiations with SA’s largest platinum group metals (PGM) producers as workers press for a share of the record profits generated by rallying metal prices. Negotiations for a three-year wage deal started with Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) last week and more talks are planned for Wednesday, William Mabapa, general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), advised. He declined to disclose what the union was asking for. The NUM is holding the wage talks jointly with the rival Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu). Jeff Mphahlele, Amcu’s general secretary, confirmed that talks with Amplats were under way, along with Sibanye-Stillwater and Impala Platinum (Implats). The companies have warned that wage settlements with about 163,000 workers must not risk the long-term viability of a key export industry. Sibanye spokesperson James Wellsted said the producer had received notice of PGM wage demands from Amcu and that talks would start toward the middle of the year. A strike that’s been underway for more than a month at Sibanye’s gold mines could be escalated to the company’s PGM operations, the unions warned on Tuesday. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Felix Njini at Fin24 Amcu and NUM to give notice of secondary strike at Sibanye’s platinum operations in support of ongoing gold strike BL Premium reports that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), whose members are on strike at Sibanye-Stillwater’s gold operations, are to intensify their protracted industrial action by giving notice of a secondary strike at Sibanye’s platinum operations. If the secondary industrial action at the company’s Rustenburg and Marikana platinum operations goes ahead, it could see about 35,000 workers downing tools. NUM spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu said NUM and Amcu top leadership met on Monday to discuss the ongoing strike action that started more than a month ago. Amongst other measures to intensify the strike action, they agreed “to put further pressure on Sibanye-Stillwater by giving notice of a secondary strike at Sibanye-Stillwater’s platinum operations — where wage talks are currently under way. This will include the Rustenburg and Marikana operations and will involve close to 35,000 workers downing tools.” However, Sibanye spokesperson James Wellsted stated on Tuesday: “We have not received notice of a secondary strike at our South African platinum group metals operations.” He added that wage negotiations at the company’s platinum operations had not even started, and were only due to start in June/July “as per the norm”. NUM and Amcu, with a combined membership of about 25,000 at Sibanye’s gold operations, are demanding an increase of R1,000 a month for the lowest-paid employees, and 6% for miners, artisans and officials. They are also demanding a R100 increase in the living-out allowance, which takes their pay demand to R1,100 each year for three years. Sibanye has not moved from its final offer, which has since been accepted by Solidarity and Uasa resulting in surface and underground workers receiving a R700 pay rise and a R100 increase in the living-out allowance each year for three years, and a 5% pay increase for artisans, miners and officials over the course of the multiyear agreement. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only) NUM, Amcu to ramp up Sibanye gold strike with marches, protests, secondary strike and an appeal to Ramaphosa Mining Weekly reports that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) have agreed to intensify strike action against precious metals miner Sibanye-Stillwater in a dispute over wage increases at the company’s SA gold mines. The unions convened a joint meeting on Monday to discuss the ongoing protected strike action at Sibanye’s gold operations, which entered its second month in the first week of April. Additional protest marches will be held to “garner public support and increase pressure on Sibanye”, the unions indicated. Their joint planned protest action will include protest marches to the JSE in Sandton and the Union Buildings in Pretoria, as well as the head offices of prominent media houses, including the SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). The unions intend to protest outside the SABC offices because of its alleged “business-biased” reporting and lack of coverage of the strike thus far. In addition, the NUM and Amcu have agreed to give notice of a secondary strike at Sibanye’s platinum operations at Rustenburg and Marikana, where the unions claim wage talks are currently under way. The presidents and national office bearers of the NUM and Amcu have also mandated NUM president Daniel Balepile and Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa to request the urgent intervention of President Cyril Ramaphosa to resolve the current labour dispute with Sibanye. The unions claim that their about 30,000-member strike has been peaceful and disciplined thus far. Sibanye is standing firm in its wage increase offer of February. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly. Read too, Sibanye unions to intensify strike, calling on Ramaphosa to step in, at Fin24 Critics lament that Thabo Mokoena left mineral resources department as bad as he found it five years ago BusinessLive reports that according to critics, when Department of Mineral Resources & Energy (DMRE) director-general Thabo Mokoena vacated his post at the end of March he left behind the same dysfunctional and institutionally incompetent department that he took over five years ago. A clear sign of this dysfunctionality is said to be the backlog of mining licences, which the Minerals Council SA (MCSA) estimates to number 4,500 and which can take years to finalise. This backlog has held back mining exploration in SA enormously. But while Mokoena concedes that the department still faces historical challenges, he insists there were improvements under his watch. He cites the setting in motion of the process of developing a new cadastral system; an improvement in the turnaround time for processing mining right applications; the department’s intervention during the Covid-19 pandemic to enable the mining industry to continue operating; a close working relationship with the MCSA; the implementation of the 2019 Integrated Resource Plan; good audit reports; and the successful amalgamation of the energy department and the mineral resources department. Yet while the department’s dysfunctionality cannot be laid solely at Mokoena’s door, industry insiders say he did little to ameliorate the situation. They cite gross inefficiency, a woeful lack of skills and the further loss of skills with the departure of experts. Central to the dysfunctionality is said to be the utter failure of the SA Mineral Resources Administration System (Samrad), a cadastral system meant to provide online access to the locality of applications, rights and permits made or held throughout the country. A MCSA spokesperson said the major task for a new director-general would be to expedite the introduction of a new cadastral system, clear the mining rights backlog, bring new skills into the department, and align regional offices with the head office in Pretoria. The post has been advertised and the process of appointing a replacement for Mokoena is under way. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive Other general posting(s) relating to mining
Numsa wants olive branch between Saftu and Cosatu The Star reports that National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) president Andrew Chirwa has called for greater co-operation between the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) and Numsa’s former mother body Cosatu (Congress of South African Trade Unions). He was speaking on Monday on the first day of Numsa’s three-day bargaining council. The meeting will set the tone for this year’s wage negotiations in different sectors where Numsa organises. Chirwa said it was clear that collective bargaining was under attack from greedy employers and the only way that workers could defend collective bargaining was through unity. He emphasised that an alliance with Cosatu would not mean being part of the ANC’s tripartite alliance, but would only mean greater co-operation for the benefit of the struggle of the working class. Numsa was once one of the biggest unions inside the Cosatu block, but left the federation because of ideological and political differences. The union now makes up a big union in the Saftu grouping of unions. “If we are to succeed in fighting back and defending the status of workers, we cannot do it alone. We need much broader working-class unity beyond our logos that we must love so much, beyond the colour of our T-shirts. If it means we must engage Cosatu unions, they must be engaged. We need a much broader alliance to defend collective bargaining,” Chirwa told delegates. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Itumeleng Mafisa at The Star Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Lack of trust between labour, government and business makes NDP weak BL Premium reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa has asked the National Planning Commission (NPC) to focus on giving advice on key developmental priorities linked to food security, water security, energy choices, social cohesion and structural reform. The instruction was given after the president’s announcement that he had tasked labour, business and government to finalise a ‘new consensus’ for reigniting a recovery plan and to rethink the underperforming SA Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan through a “comprehensive social compact”. In his state of the nation address in February, Ramaphosa said he wanted a new social compact within 100 days that would look at labour law reform, a basic income grant and investment targets for the private sector. NPC deputy chairperson Professor Tinyiko Maluleke said on Monday the commission historically had achieved insufficient progress in implementing the National Development Plan (NDP). One of the major findings of a NDP review was that its implementation was “weak”, and that little remedial action has been taken to address the shortcomings. “As a result of the poor implementation track record, now made worse by the deadly devastation of Covid-19, the country has veered off its development course and targets set out in the NDP,” Maluleke noted. The NPC review stated that a major challenge facing SA was the inability of various sectors of society to place the broader national interest before their own sectoral interest, as well as the lack of trust between government, business and labour. Political and ideological contestations in the state and in the governance of the country have shifted the NDP from being the central focus of government, according to the report. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Thuletho Zwane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only). Read too, National Development Plan nowhere near achieving 18-year mandate, at Moneyweb Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Despite growing revenue, telecoms companies have seen a steep drop in jobs Fin24 reports that a report by the Independent Communications Regulator of SA (Icasa) has revealed that employment in the telecommunications, broadcasting and postal sectors declined by 22.4% in 2021. This was despite revenue growth in these sectors. The telecoms sector, which includes cellular network companies such as MTN, Telkom and Vodacom, led the decline, with a 35.8% dip in employment. The broadcasting sector, which has seen companies such as the SABC shedding jobs in the past year, contributed 18.7% to the decline, while the ailing postal services registered a 2.1% drop. The data used in the report was collected over a 12-month period to the end of September 2021. The revenue for the three sectors increased by 4.3% over a seven-year period. Since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, companies have seen growth in data revenue due to a shift in communications patterns. As a result, cellular network providers posted record income, allowing the sector to ride out the Covid-19 slump. MTN's financial statement for the year 2021 showed that data revenue expanded 32.2%. The financial growth seen by the sector saw total mobile service revenue increase by 7.8% in 2021, according to the report. The total fixed internet and data revenue and total fixed-line revenue decreased by 19.4%. Another sector that has seen growth is pay-TV, which pushed subscriptions from around 5.6 million in 2015 to 8.3 million in 2021. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sibongile Khumalo at Fin24
UN says SA should tighten its borders to fend off xenophobia BL Premium reports that the acting UN representative to SA, Ayodele Odusola, says that the government has sufficient immigration laws and only needs to fortify its porous borders. Amid a new wave of xenophobic violence in SA, which resulted in the stoning and burning to death of a Zimbabwean national by a mob in Diepsloot township outside Johannesburg, opposition parties have called for tighter laws and stricter border controls. Odusola said on Tuesday that SA’s immigration laws, which were in line with international best practice, were sufficient but were poorly enforced, leading to sporadic instances of violence against foreigners. Additionally, ongoing issues — such as the high levels of unemployment, poor service delivery and utterances by political leaders who used migration to mobilise support — fed into the anti-foreign national sentiment in the country. “For implementation to take root we must fortify our border posts. Our border posts are becoming too porous, so we need to make sure that the land borders and the airports need to be fortified so that those with legal documents are able to enter,” Odusola opined. This would ensure that only individuals with legal documents were able to enter the country, which would help temper anti-foreigner sentiments. Odusola added there was need to build capacity of immigration officials to get rid of “bad eggs”. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Thando Maeko at BusinessLive (subscriber access only) Court hears about 'ringleader' caught in the act at night inside Krugersdorp Home Affairs offices processing illegal passports News24 reports that the Krugersdorp Magistrate's Court has heard damning evidence against a Pakistani national alleged to be behind a syndicate that illegally secured passports for undocumented immigrants. Afran Ahmed appeared in court this week with 26 other men, who included foreign nationals as well as South Africans. Warrant Officer Veerasamy Ponnen described Ahmed as the kingpin and mastermind behind the syndicate. Ahmed and his 26 co-accused were arrested red-handed inside a Home Affairs branch in Krugersdorp during a late-night raid two weeks ago. Ponnen testified that Ahmed had allegedly processed 400 South African passports for foreigners. He also said Ahmed accessed Home Affairs branches at night and processed passports. Ponnen testified as follows: His (Ahmed’s) full-time job is to commit fraud. He targeted unemployed people by promising R500 to sell their identity documents to him. He smuggled illegal immigrants into the country and provided them with South African passports. He is working with corrupt Home Affairs officials." According to Ponnen, Ahmed operated in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Western Cape, Free State and the Eastern Cape. He said the majority of Ahmed's operations were conducted after Home Affairs offices had closed for the day and "when law-abiding citizens are sleeping". The hearing continues. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Ntwaagae Seleka at News24 Other internet posting(s) in this news category
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