In our roundup of weekend news, see
summaries of our selection of South African
labour-related stories that appeared since
Friday, 22 April 2022.
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City of Cape Town official dies after explosion caused by vandalised cables News24 reports that a City of Cape Town official has died after he suffered severe injuries when vandalised cables exploded while he was attending to an outage in Gugulethu. According to the City, Terence Henry Stringer died in hospital on 16 April, after suffering injuries when severely vandalised cables exploded a week earlier on 4 April. Stringer, four contractors and a member of the public were injured when the insulation on the damaged cables further deteriorated and caused an explosion. The electricity team was attending to an outage in Gugulethu that was affecting the power supply to both Manenberg and Gugulethu. "A section of the medium voltage cable had been excavated and set alight by criminals. It is utterly devastating that a colleague’s life has been lost due to the impact of infrastructure vandalism while in the line of duty," mayoral committee member for energy Beverley van Reenen said in a statement. Stringer joined the municipality in 1993 and was one of the first employees in the City’s Gugulethu Electricity Depot shortly after it was constructed as part of the its programme to bring services closer to the Manenberg and Gugulethu communities. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Cebelihle Mthethwa at News24. Lees ook, Vandalisme het amptenaar se dood tot gevolg, by Maroela Media eThekwini municipal worker gunned down on Saturday at water tanker filling point News24 reports that an eThekwini municipal employee has been murdered at a water tanker filling point in Verulam, outside Durban. Durban mayor Mxolisi Kaunda indicated that the victim, a woman employed by the municipality, had been on duty at a water tanker filling point in Ottawa on Saturday afternoon at around 16:00 when the shooting occurred. Police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala reported: "It is alleged that a 36-year-old woman was shot by unknown suspects at Ottawa Main Road. She sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the body and was declared dead at the scene. The suspect fled the scene in a getaway vehicle. Nothing was taken from the victim." Police are investigating a murder case. The motive for the shooting is as yet unknown. Kaunda went on to note: "We are in the grip of a disaster and this murder is something we do not need. We condemn it and we hope the police will move with speed and arrest those responsible. This employee was entrusted with a critical responsibility of controlling our water tankers.” Read the original of the report in the above regard by Nicole McCain at News24
Over 15,000 comments received by health department on Covid-19 draft regulations BL Premium reports that the Department of Health (DOH) has received more than 15,000 comments on the draft regulations intended to manage Covid-19 and replace the state of disaster regulations. The regulations can only be signed into law by the health minister after a 30-day public comment period, which was extended by 10 days and lapsed on Sunday The DOH hopes to sign the new regulations into law when the current temporary regulations lapse on 4 May. The regulations will be enacted under the notifiable conditions regulations of the National Health Act and will allow for social distancing, forced quarantining of infectious people at state facilities, limiting the numbers at places of worship and funerals, contact tracing, and the use of masks and hand sanitiser if an infectious disease should break out. According to some, the wording of the regulations will open the door for new lockdowns, alcohol sales bans and curfews to be enacted. The government came under pressure to lift the state of disaster regulations it used to control Covid-19 for two years and lifted them a day before it faced lobby group AfriForum in court over the regulations. Co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma then brought in transition regulations that were valid for 30 days. The DOH must now take account of public comments before 4 May and could struggle to complete the new regulations by then. The website ‘Dear SA’ has collected and emailed to the DOH over 216,000 individual comments on the regulations, much more than the 15,000 the department claims it has received. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Katharine Child at BusinessLive (subscriber access only) Solidarity submits comments on draft Health Act regulations, is preparing court papers in event that regulations aren’t radically amended Trade union Solidarity announced on Sunday that it has submitted its comments on the four sets of regulations issued by the Department of Health in order to replace the Covid-19 state of disaster. The trade union also stated that if the government did not change the draft regulations radically, it could lead to one of the most major court cases yet in SA. Solidarity’s comments have been drafted by a team of researchers, occupational health experts, medical experts and lawyers. According to the union, its comments are also to be used as preparation for a court case that is very likely. Solidarity’s legal team has already been instructed to proceed with court documents. According to the union, the proposed regulations are unclear, incoherent and ineffective. “All indications are that the government wants to press on with regulations that will give the Minister of Health unprecedented powers. To our knowledge hundreds of thousands of people have already submitted comments, overwhelming rejecting the regulations. People are tired of a government that wants to control things centrally. The government is now trying to turn temporary powers associated with a state of disaster into permanent powers,” Solidarity Chief Executive Dr Dirk Hermann noted. “Given how dismally this whole process has been managed, we know that if the government does continue with the regulations major litigation lies ahead,” Hermann added. He expects that political parties, trade unions, civil rights organisations, employer organisations and others will take the government to court over the regulations. Read Solidarity’s press statement in the above regard and peruse its full comments at Solidarity News. Lees ook, Solidariteit dien kommentaar in oor gesondheidsregulasies, by Maroela Media Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Passenger bus operators offer unions revised 6% wage increase, parties to meet again Tuesday BL Premium reports that passenger bus operators have again increased their wage offer to unions, now to 6%, in a bid to strike a wage hike deal and avoid possible strike action. The parties met last week under the auspices of the SA Road Passenger Bargaining Council (Sarpbc) where employers revised their wage offer from 5.3% to 6%. Employer organisations, including the SA Bus Employers Association (Sabea) and Commuter Bus Employers Organisation (Cobea), initially offered the unions a 2.5% wage increase, which they revised to 4.5% on 12 April. The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) and three other unions had been demanding an 11% wage increase. The 4.5% revised wage offer, which was made on the eve of the Easter weekend, saw unions agreeing to take it to their members for a mandate. Satawu’s Solomon Mahlangu reported that unions had met last week to consolidate their response to the 4.5% offer and a detailed response was subsequently sent employers. When the parties then met on Friday, the employers revised their wage offer from 4.5% to 5.3%. “During our engagement on Friday, we were very clear that we were not going to accept anything less than [the] inflation [rate]. The employers then revised their wage offer and moved to 6%,” Mahlangu reported. He went on to comment: “We have an agreement in principle regarding the revised 6% wage offer. From where we stand, we feel we can sell this offer to our members, because we are mandated by them. We then asked for a permission to take the 6% to our members for a mandate. We will meet again as parties on Tuesday afternoon.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only) Treasury signals tough stance ahead of upcoming public sector wage talks BL Premium reports that the national Treasury has set the tone for tough wage negotiations with public sector unions by outlining budgetary constraints and a commitment to keep spending in check. In a presentation entitled “Public sector remuneration analysis and forecasting”, Treasury official in the budget office Marumo Maake said it was important to align public sector wage increases with budgetary commitments. “Government faces large spending pressures, including the risk of higher-than-budgeted public service wages, demands for additional funding from financially distressed state-owned companies, and calls for permanent increases in spending that exceed available resources,” Maake indicated in the presentation dated 22 April. Maake’s comments, made at a special meeting in the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council, came as the unions and the government prepared for wage negotiations covering the 2023/2024 fiscal year. His presentation can be seen as the first salvo against union leaders, who may be emboldened to ask for higher salaries from the government as the tax take has been many billions of rand more than it expected about a year ago. As part of the bargaining process, the partners often meet to exchange perspectives on the context in which the negotiations will be taking place, and some use the opportunity to indirectly indicate their forthcoming positions. In the document, the Treasury, which has pencilled in about R599bn in compensation for millions of state employees such as teachers, nurses and police officers in the 2023/2024 financial year, said the devastation caused by the flooding in KwaZulu-Natal made it even more important to keep the public sector wage bill in check. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Thuletho Zwane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only) Numsa welcomes Comair’s withdrawal of notice to slash workers’ wages BL Premium reports that in what it termed a victory for workers, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) announced on Friday that it had received correspondence from Comair that the flight operator was formally withdrawing a notice to reduce worker benefits and conditions of employment. According to the union, under the terms of the so-called Section 189A notice issued by Comair on 1 March 2022, the salaries of some 1,300 employees would have been cut by 15% and the medical aid benefit reduced. Numsa said it had objected to the Section 189A notice because Comair employees had already made “huge sacrifices” in helping to turn the company around. “[Employees] have endured more than a year on reduced salaries — their salaries were cut by at least a 30%, and all benefits have been slashed. This is why we welcome news that Comair has decided to withdraw the notice,” Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim stated. In a letter to the CCMA, Comair’s Barnett Marillier stated that “[a]fter much deliberation on the issue of operational restructure and with due consideration of legal advice obtained, while we still need to restructure the conditions of employment that places the organisation at risk, we will seek to explore other avenues of achieving the same saving, which may include the collective bargaining process. We therefore withdraw the section 189A application … and will no longer continue to consult on this issue in this forum.” Jim said Numsa would now ready itself for wage talks “with the employer which are coming up soon”. Comair operates domestic flights by British Airways (BA) and Kulula. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only). Read too, Comair withdraws Section 189 notice, says Numsa, at Engineering News
Sibanye-Stillwater ups wage offer to NUM and Amcu in a bid to end seven-week long strike at its gold operations BL Premium reports that Sibanye-Stillwater has revised its wage offer in an attempt to end a seven-week long strike at its gold operations that has cost workers nearly R1bn in wages. Describing it as a final settlement offer, the producer said on Friday that entry-level workers would now receive an increase of 7.8% in basic wages in year one, 7.2% in year two and 6.8% in year three. In addition, workers would get a R50 increase in the living-out allowance each year. The revised offer still falls short of demands tabled by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), which collectively represent about 25,000 of the 31,000 employees at the gold operations. The two unions are demanding an increase of R1,000, which amounts to a 9.8% rise in year one, 8.8% in year two and 8.2% in year three for entry-level surface and underground workers. “Our offer is fair, takes into account inflationary living costs, considers the sustainability of the SA gold operations and is in the interests of all stakeholders,” Sibanye spokesperson James Wellsted stated. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Andries Mahlangu at BusinessLive (subscriber access only). See too, Sibanye lifts wage offer for South African gold sector employees, at Mining Weekly Striking unions to meet Sibanye-Stillwater on Tuesday over final settlement offer BL Premium reports that the two unions striking at Sibanye-Stillwater’s gold operations will meet management on Tuesday to table their consolidated response to the producer’s final settlement offer of a R850 wage hike each year for three years for the lowest-paid employees. In addition, workers would get a R50 increase in the living-out allowance each year, while so-called ‘artisans, miners and officials’ would get a 5% annual increase for the duration of the multi-term agreement. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) have been on strike at Sibanye since 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 R990m in wages. In a statement, Sibanye said the final settlement offer would translate to increases of 7.8% in basic wages in year one, 7.2% in year two and 6.8% in year three. The revised offer, however, still falls short of demands tabled by the NUM and Amcu. NUM general secretary William Mabapa said on Sunday that the two unions were holding mass meetings in an effort to get a mandate from their membership on Sibanye’s final settlement offer. “The last mass meeting will be held at the Beatrix mine in Free State. We will then meet the mine management on Tuesday to table our consolidated response to their latest offer,” Mabapa indicated. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
Kirkwood and Addo shut down on Friday by protesting farmworkers demanding R30 an hour, immigrant labour hostel torched GroundUp reports that Kirkwood and Addo towns in the Eastern Cape were shut down by protesting farm workers and residents on Friday morning. The protests started earlier in the week. Businesses were closed by over 2,000 protesters from Kirkwood’s townships and Nomathamsanqa and Valencia townships in Addo. Only nurses were allowed to go to work. All other workers in the town centre were told to down tools. Hundreds of farm workers were demanding R30 an hour against the national minimum wage of R23.19 per hour. As the protests continued into the afternoon, a hostel on Habata, a fruit and vegetable farm in Bershiba believed to accommodate 20 immigrant farm workers, was torched. A tractor was also burnt near Aqua Park. Lemon trees were sawn down on Daps Farm and used to block the road leading to Moses Mabida township. A resident said the torching of the tractor was in retaliation against a young farmer with his pit bull who had verbally insulted women farm workers. SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) leader Mbuyiseli Bayini denied that the protests were xenophobic. “The creation of xenophobia is done by farmers who employ more foreigners as drivers, managers, supervisors, while local people are jobless and are a majority. We demand 70% employment of locals and 30% of foreigners,” he said. Mayor Simphiwe Rune said farmers’ forum members had finally signed a petition from the protesters on Thursday afternoon. A meeting has been scheduled for Monday to negotiate wages and other grievances. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Thamsanqa Mbovane at GroundUp Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Parliamentary committee urges Armscor and Denel to explore new avenues to find solutions to their challenges Engineering News reports that the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans last week visited the facilities Armscor and Denel as part of an oversight programme. It urged the state-owned entities to explore new avenues to use their assets and find solutions to the challenges they were facing. During the visit to Armscor’s Technopark, the committee expressed concern about the ongoing issue of the poor quality of boots provided to military personnel. It recommended that research and development had to look into finding suitable shoes for the military personnel. The committee also visited Denel Land Systems, in Lyttelton, to conduct site inspections on the status of the Badger development. Denel’s officials claimed that they had been unable to meet their contractual obligations owing to Armscor’s refusal to accept deliverables of the contract on Project Hoefyster. However, the committee said Denel needed to be truthful about why it could not meet its targets to the client, namely the SA National Defence Force. Acting committee chairperson Thabo Mmutle said there was no need for Denel to sugarcoat or hide anything and noted that Denel was far over the timelines in terms of the delivery of the project. "The committee will call on both Armscor and Denel to make presentations on the way forward to resolve the challenges that the project experiences," he indicated. The oversight programme included a visit to Gerotek and Technopark, which houses research and development facilities such as Protechnik, Ergotech and Hazmat. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News
Teacher shortages at inner-city schools to worsen after home affairs cancels Zimbabwe exemption permits BusinessLive reports that thousands of Zimbabwean teachers who hold exemption permits may be forced to return to their home country if they fail to secure a visa before the end of the year. The teachers, many of whom have been teaching at low-fee private schools for years, were allowed to work in the country because they had valid documents. But, Department of Home Affairs (DHA) Minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced at the end of 2021 that extensions to the permits would not be granted and the affected Zimbabwean nationals would be allowed until the end of this year to get visas. He indicated that 178,412 Zimbabwean nationals held exemption permits. They now have to apply for a visitor’s visa or a business, relative’s, spousal, critical skills work or general work visa. But Zimbabwean teachers holding exemption permits said their chances of getting a visa were slim because their employers have to prove to the Department of Employment & Labour why South Africans with the same qualifications could not be appointed to the post. Sharon Reynolds, principal of CityKidz, an inner-city school in Johannesburg, said her school employed more South Africans than foreigners “but the impact of teacher turnover is especially acute with SA teachers” because there were shortages of experienced, well-qualified SA teachers willing to work in an inner-city school. Mandla Mthembu of the National Alliance of Independent Schools’ Associations (Naisa) said Zimbabwean teachers were “very concerned”. Naisa has urged home affairs to consider granting all legally employed Zimbabwean teachers a work visa before the end of the year. Motsoaledi’s spokesperson said a special team had been established to assist in the adjudication of applications “with a view to expediting the process”. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Prega Govender at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
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