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 Wednesday morning roundup, see
summaries of our selection of recent South African
labour-related reports.
|
Transport union Towu hints at not accepting revised 4.5% wage offer by bus operators BL Premium reports that one of the unions in the bus sector has given the strongest indication yet that it might not accept the employers’ revised wage offer of 4.5%, which averted a possible strike over the Easter long weekend. The Transport and Omnibus Workers Union (Towu) said it was not impressed by the revised offer, with general secretary Tony Franks indicating: “[We] won’t accept anything less than [the] inflation [rate]. We want to settle at 6.5% if that is possible. Indications are that inflation could rise to 6.2% this year, and with the Eskom load-shedding, things are going to get a bit more expensive. From our side, obviously, we are encouraged by the employers’ decision to move closer to inflation because last year we received a wage increase of 4%.” Franks added that it would be a “prize” for unions if the parties settled on above-inflation increase. The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu), Transport and Allied Workers Union (Tawusa), Tirisano Transport and Services Workers Union (Taswu) and Towu initially demanded an 11% wage increase. Employer organisations in the SA Road Passenger Bargaining Council (Sarpbac) initially offered the unions a 2.5% wage increase, which has now been revised upwards to 4.5%. Satawu’s Solomon Mahlangu advised: “We are still holding a labour caucus as the trade unions. The consolidated response will be compiled and delivered to employers and the bargaining council on Wednesday.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
Sibanye-Stillwater strikers ‘steadfast’ as industrial action at gold mines continues BL Premium reports that there seems to be no end in sight to the protracted strike action at Sibanye-Stillwater’s gold operations over wage increases. Meanwhile, the precious metals producer has warned that should industrial action continue until the end of April, striking employees would have lost all value they could have gained from a wage increase. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which jointly represent about 25,000 of the 31,000 employees at Sibanye’s gold operations, downed tools on 9 March in support of their demand for above-inflation wage increases. Striking employees, who have been locked out since 10 March, have lost about R790m in wages. Amcu’s Jimmy Gama advised on Tuesday that the industrial action was showing no signs of abetting. “We are still moving ahead with the strike. There is no agreement between parties yet, so the strike continues,” Gama stated. The NUM’s Livhuwani Mammburu said: “The strike continues as usual… Our members are on the ground, they are steadfast, they want a R1,000 wage increase for lowest-paid workers and a 6% increase for artisans, miners and officials.” The two unions announced last week that they planned to give Sibanye notice to allow their members in the group’s platinum group metals (PGM) operations to join their striking gold counterparts as a means to intensify their wage strike. “That is still part of the plan,” said Gama. Sibanye has however said it had not yet received notification of any “secondary strike” at its PGM operations and that it would “take appropriate legal action in the event that this is given”. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only) Seventy-seven illegal miners facing starvation and four bodies recovered from Orkney mine over the Easter weekend IOL reports that a group of 77 illegal miners were scheduled expected to appear in the Orkney Magistrate’s Court in North West on Tuesday. The arrest of the group came after they were rescued from underground by a multi-disciplinary team comprising of the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Illicit Mining Team, Orkney Visible Policing and detectives, as well as a Mining Rescue team. The rescue took place between 14 and 18 April. According to the police spokesperson Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone, the operation followed a request to the mine management by the illegal miners to be assisted to get out of the mine shaft as they were starving. “During the operation, which was conducted at shaft number 5 in Orkney, four decomposed bodies were brought up by the illegal miners on Friday, April 15, 2022. Of the 77 arrested illegal miners who were all medically examined, 60 are from Lesotho, 13 from Mozambique and four are Zimbabwean nationals. Meanwhile, a formal identification process of the four bodies is under way,” Mokgwabone said. The group faces charges of trespassing, illegal mining and contravention of the Immigration Act of 2002. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Robin-Lee Francke at IOL. Read too, Four decomposed bodies found in North West mine shaft, 77 trapped illegal miners arrested, at News24 Other general posting(s) relating to mining
Trade union Sandu warns that politics and budget cuts impacting the work of SANDF EWN reports that the SA National Defence Union (Sandu) has raised concerns about the deployment of troops to KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape amid budget cuts. The union’s Pikkie Greeff said that the current budget allocated to the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) was much smaller in comparison with the previous financial year. He said that the drop was significant and should be corrected. KwaZulu-Natal is in crisis mode following a week of heavy floods that displaced thousands and claimed 443 lives. Heavy rains wreaked havoc in the Eastern Cape as well. Greeff said that politics and budget cuts were impacting the work of the SANDF: “If one does not maintain and have adequate funds to get your aircraft parts, your tank parts, your vehicle parts, etc., from wherever you need it or to manufacture it yourself, you simply don’t have the budget to do that, then your defence force can feel it, and the politicians need to be alive to this. Maintenance is for a reason. It should be an ongoing issue because if you lack maintenance then a couple years down the road it really does show a lot of negative results.” Read the original of the short report in the above regard by Buhle Mbhele at EWN KZN floods see freight and logistics group Grindrod suspend operations at five sites for several weeks Engineering News reports that freight and logistics group Grindrod says its container depots, terminals and warehouse facilities in and around central Durban have been heavily impacted by the recent floods in KwaZulu-Natal. Operations at five sites suspended “and likely to be so for several weeks”. The company said: “We are grateful that all our staff, and our service providers’ staff, are accounted for and are safe. The impact to Grindrod includes damage to equipment and infrastructure. Activity to recover customer containers and restore facilities has commenced, in collaboration with our insurers. Whilst the floods have been devastating, our equipment and facilities that have been damaged are all insured, including cover for business interruption. In addition, engagement with key customers is underway around contingencies, including those required for the upcoming citrus season.” Grindrod indicated that it continued to take the necessary precautions in view of the heavy rains still being forecast over the next few days: “The safety of our staff is our main priority. The situation is challenging, and our solutions are evolving as we focus on supporting our people, our communities and our customers.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Massmart calls for easier visa rules to bring in scarce skills and tourists BL Premium reports that Massmart chair Kuseni Dlamini writes in the company’s annual report that SA needs to make it easier for skilled individuals from abroad to work in the country and for tourists to apply for visas. “If SA is to grow and prosper and our companies are to be globally competitive, we need access to scarce talent. We need to make the process of people applying to work in SA ‘more user friendly’,” Dlamini opined. Massmart is controlled by Wal-Mart, which has drafted in three executives, including CEO Mitchell Slape, from its operations elsewhere in the world to revive the fortunes of its local unit. Dlamini said in the report released on Tuesday: “We are located some distance from the centres of global economic activity, and we therefore need to make every effort to make it easy for people to visit our country.” The critical skills list, which was updated early in 2022 by the department of home affairs, details which professions or areas require foreign skills as SA cannot provide enough graduates. But it can still be onerous to apply for critical skills visas. Companies must show that they cannot hire South Africans to do the same job as SA battles with the highest percentage of unemployed adults in the world. Dlamini also spoke about improving tourism, a large driver of GDP growth and employment. He said SA could unlock “the full potential of our tourism market by making it easier for tourists to access visas”. The tourism industry has long complained that promises by the government to introduce an e-visa, making it much easier to get a holiday visa to SA, have come to nothing. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Katharine Child at BusinessLive (subscriber access only) Other internet posting(s) in this news category
University of Johannesburg’s new blockchain-based features to enhance the security of graduate certificates Saturday Star reports that the University of Johannesburg (UJ) is the first South African institution to enhance the security of its certificates by adding blockchain-based security features to them. This comes as the tertiary education institution has recognised the need for universities to continuously increase their security features. Dr Tinus van Zyl of Central Academic Administration at UJ explained that this was related to the certification processes, as well as to prevent certificate fraud and counterfeiting, and to avoid fraudulent representation of qualifications. He explained that the university was the first SA institution to offer its graduates digital certificates back in 2019 to enable its graduates to access their qualifications digitally. The new blockchain-based certificate features would enhance the security of certificates even more, he added. “The digital certificate system, which was introduced a while back for our graduates, gave graduates access to their certificates digitally and assisted in securely sharing these certificates with third parties or prospective employers, at no cost. Certificates issued from this year on will have QR codes printed on them, which anybody can scan with a smartphone to verify whether the information on the certificate is correct and has been issued legitimately by UJ,” Van Zyl explained. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Saturday Star
FSCA executive says some unclaimed pension benefits should be used for social good BL Premium reports that according to Olano Makhubela, the divisional executive for retirement fund supervision of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), some unclaimed retirement fund benefits totalling more than R47bn should be used for social good. Investment returns are generated on the unclaimed benefits, and amounted to R45bn in 2019 and R47bn in 2020. Most of the unclaimed benefits belong to SA workers and others from Southern Africa who came to work on mines. The first version of the Conduct of Financial Institutions Bill released for public comment in December 2018 provided for the creation of a centralised unclaimed benefit fund that could be used for social good. The second draft was released in September 2020. Treasury deputy director-general Ismail Momoniat said on Tuesday that the bill should be tabled in parliament this year. He expects much controversy and possibly legal challenges over centralisation of unclaimed benefit funds and how they should be used, but said the aim was for the funds to be used for social good. Makhubela supported the proposal for unclaimed benefits to be used for social good, for example in communities that supply a lot of labour for mines. Actuaries could determine how much was needed for claimed benefits and what could be used for social good, he pointed out. But according to Makhubela, provision for the creation of a centralised unclaimed benefit fund has been removed from the bill. It is proposed it might follow in a separate financial services omnibus bill, the timing of which is unknown. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive (subscriber access only) In move to implement Mpati commission recommendation, PIC appoints separate chief investment officer BL Premium reports that the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) has taken a step in implementing recommendations of the report by Judge Lex Mpati by appointing Kabelo Rikhotso as its chief investment officer. Rikhotso was an executive and fund manager at Visio Fund Management and has more than 18 years of experience in asset management. He also worked for the National Treasury. At the PIC, Rikhotso will oversee overall investment strategy, monitor and review all investment decisions and develop the outlook and asset allocation function in line with investment mandates of the PIC’s clients. The Mpati commission had the mandate to make recommendations on PIC governance and structure and it suggested bringing back a chief investment officer role separate from that of CEO. At private investment firms, the two roles are separate, but at the PIC they were merged when it made questionable investments in some companies of Sekunjalo Investments chair Iqbal Survé. The PIC manages more than R2.2-trillion in government pension and social funds on behalf of the Government Employees Pension Fund, the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Compensation Fund. Rikhotso starts on 10 May. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Katharine Child at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
Axed Prasa boss must be reinstated, arbitration hearing rules Fin24 reports that axed Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) CEO Zolani Matthews is free to return to his office following an arbitration ruling in his favour. Matthews was placed on precautionary suspension in November last year over a security clearance issue related to his dual citizenship. His UK citizenship was reportedly not disclosed to Prasa upon his appointment. His contract of employment was later terminated when the State Security Agency (SSA) declined Matthews' top security clearance. He took the matter to the Labour Court in Johannesburg in December seeking an interdict against the finalisation of his dismissal. The matter was withdrawn from the Labour Court and referred to private arbitration under the auspices of the Arbitration Foundation in February, in terms of Matthews' employment contract. A source close to the case confirmed that the arbitration found that Matthews should be reinstated. In court documents filed in December, Matthews said the speed with which his security clearance matter with the SSA was concluded "raised suspicions". "In a space of less than 10 days I was charged, suspended, investigated and summarily dismissed,” he pointed out. A Prasa spokesperson said: "The Prasa board has received the judgment and is ... studying the contents of the ruling". Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khulekani Magubane at Fin24
Solidarity takes BLF to court for not apologising for ‘appalling’ Hoërskool Driehoek comments The Citizen reports trade union Solidarity has filed a case of contempt of court against Black First Land First (BLF) after the organisation failed to apologise and pay compensation to the victims of the Hoërskool Driehoek bridge collapse in terms of a court order issued against it earlier this year. Solidarity has also brought an application for warrants of execution against the BLF movement. In March this year the Equality Court in Johannesburg found BLF spokesperson Lindsay Maasdorp guilty of hate speech. Maasdorp had made several remarks on social media about the disaster that took place at Hoërskool Driehoek in Vanderbijl Park when a footbridge collapsed in February 2019 while pupils were making their way to class. At least three pupils were killed and about 20 others injured in the tragedy. BLF members said that the ‘death of three white children was divine intervention that got rid of three future problems.’ Maasdorp and the BLF were ordered to pay R50,000 to each of the victims’ parents, as well as apologise to the parents for their remarks. Anton van der Bijl, Head of Legal Matters at Solidarity, said that to date BLF had not complied with either order. “By showing contempt for this court order the BLF is not only undermining judicial authority, but they show no respect for the children who lost their lives, and they are adding to the suffering of the parents,” he indicated. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Faizel Patel at The Citizen. Read Solidarity’s press statement in regard to this matter at Solidarity News Over R12m recouped from state workers who claimed social grants illegally BL Premium reports that social development minister Lindiwe Zulu has told parliament that a total of R12.6m has been recovered from government employees who illegally claimed social grants meant for needy and vulnerable people. The social grants concerned cater for the aged, child support, foster care and disability, and R250bn was budgeted to pay grants to about 18.6-million beneficiaries in 2022/2023. In a written reply to a question by Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Mimmy Gondwe, Zulu said altogether 165,297 public servants were found to have received social grants, excluding the R350 social relief of distress grant meant to help those made destitute by the Covid-19 pandemic. Payments to those 165,297 public servants were suspended in September 2021 as it was suspected they did not qualify for the grants. Zulu said all 165,297 cases were subjected to a review process, as required by the Social Assistance Act. “The process to determine eligibility is an intensive manual process. The teams are still engaging the public servants as they come forward to complete the review process,” Zulu indicated. So far 63,212 public servants were found to qualify for the grants after they completed the review process and 3,268 were found not to qualify. The grant review process is not yet finalised and 98,817 beneficiaries must still be reviewed. All those found to have received a grant to which they were not entitled will have to repay the amounts and will also face disciplinary action through their respective departments. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
|
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page