In our Friday morning roundup, see
summaries of our selection of recent South African
labour-related reports.
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Thousands of Public Servants Association march on Thursday, give government seven days to respond to pay demands BL Premium reports that the government has been given seven days to respond to a list of demands by the Public Servants Association (PSA), whose members marched to National Treasury offices in Pretoria on Thursday calling for above-inflation increases. In a show of force, thousands went on marches across the country to register their unhappiness over the government’s unilateral implementation of a 3% wage offer for the country’s more than 1.3-million public servants. Addressing marchers outside the Treasury offices in Pretoria, PSA president Lufuno Mulaudzi accused the government of taking public servants for granted, saying “we are rejecting this nonsense of 3% they are giving us”. Mulaudzi handed over a list of demands to Treasury acting COO Laura Mseme, which called for a one-year, 10% increase across the board and the continuation of a R1,000 after-tax cash gratuity beyond March 2023. Besides Gauteng, the PSA led marches in the Eastern Cape, the Northern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State, and a march to Parliament for Cape Town. But, the Department of Public Service & Administration’s Moses Mushi claimed the one-day industrial action had no effect on government services as employees were largely at their workstations. The PSA’s Reuben Maleka disagreed, saying: “The strike was a success. Our members went all out, and it was not just PSA members, there were others from various unions too supporting the workers’ cause.” Maleka warned that should the government fail to respond satisfactorily to the PSA’s demands within a week, “we are going to intensify and make sure there’s a full-blown indefinite strike in the public sector.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only). Read too, Government has money to pay wage increase demands, says PSA, at TimesLive. And also, 'We are going to shut this country down': Public servants march in Pretoria, Durban, at News24 Cyril Ramaphosa has neglected us, claim KZN government workers protesting in Durban TimesLive reports that members of the Public Servants Association (PSA) who brought traffic to a standstill in Durban's central business district on Thursday, called for a 10% wage increase across the board and a R25,000 housing allowance from the state, coupled with the filling of vacancies. Their march started at King Dinizulu Park and ended at the city hall. The union cried foul over the manner in which President Cyril Ramaphosa had, together with his ministers, conducted the 2022/2023 public servants' wage negotiations, which resulted in the PSA and other unions declaring a dispute and having to take industrial action. The union’s provincial spokesperson, Mlungisi Ndlovu, said that despite spiralling living costs the government had turned its back on its workforce. “Government clearly does not respect public servants. Public servants have been crippled by inflation, increases in the costs of fuel, food, transport and interest rates,” said Ndlovu. He asserted that since Ramaphosa ascended to power, workers had been neglected. He urged all unions to join the PSA in its fight for better wages. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mfundo Mkhize at TimesLive Healthcare union Hospersa holds wage protests over public sector wage increases Fin24 reports that state hospital staff aligned to the Health and Other Services Personnel Trade Union of SA (Hospersa) held protests on Thursday over the deadlocked public service wage talks. This came as the Public Servants Association (PSA) kicked off its industrial action in the public service on Thursday with several marches. Hospersa, which has 50, 000 members, said in a statement that the 2022/23 wage negotiations were marred by the government’s decision to unilaterally implement a 3% wage increase in the public service on the basis of section 5 of the Public Service Act. It said: The fight against the assault on collective bargaining is paramount to the fight for improved salaries and conditions of service in the present, as well as for posterity. Hospersa believes that the latter cannot happen without the former, and therefore, by intentionally undermining the processes and institution of collective bargaining, the employer is by extension undermining the welfare of its own employees.” The statement said while the union was not striking, Hospersa planned to get the employer to come back to the negotiating table with a genuine attempt to resolve this dispute. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khulekani Magubane at Fin24 It will take several years to reduce public wage bill, Godongwana warns Bloomberg News reports that according to Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, the government will take several years to bring its wage bill to more sustainable levels and may have to consider retrenching some staff. Compensation accounts for almost a third of state expenditure after rising by an annual average of two percentage points above the inflation rate for the past decade. Wage restraint is pivotal to the government’s efforts to rein in the nation’s debt and it has budgeted to pay 3% annual increases for the next three fiscal years. Labor unions are demanding as much as 10%, with one of them having embarked on a strike on Thursday. Godongwana said in an interview: "What I am doing with the wage bill, I am not doing it to please anybody, I am doing it as a matter of duty. It’s going to take a while to get to a number where it stabilises." Moreover, the budget might even have to be increased at some point to fund retrenchments, he said. The minister did not specify whether the state currently planned to lay off workers, when that could potentially happen or how many of its 1.3 million staff could be affected. He also denied that the country was reducing its compensation bill under pressure from the International Monetary Fund. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by S'thembile Cele at Fin24 Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Samwu members shut M1 highway over pay dispute with City of Johannesburg TimesLive reports that members of the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) in Johannesburg took to the streets and shut down the M1 highway on Thursday afternoon. This after they convened for a general meeting to receive feedback regarding negotiations with the city’s administration on their financial grievances. Among the issues raised was the Politically Facilitated Agreement (PFA), which was signed in 2016 between the city and labour to amend the wage scales and salary disparities among workers. There were also grievances regarding workers’ locomotive allowances. Samwu provincial secretary Mpho Tladinyane said the idea behind the PFA was to regularise the differences between the salaries paid to workers in the city and those paid to workers doing the same job in the entities. “Phase one was implemented but phase two was not. This is what brought workers to demand the implementation of the second phase to ensure that there are no longer salary disparities,” Tladinyane indicated. The disgruntled workers claimed that they were getting paid less than other municipal workers in other Gauteng metros. To remedy this, Samwu called for a salary benchmarking with other Gauteng metros. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sisanda Mbolekwa at TimesLive. See too, Municipal workers barricade Joburg highway, hold city manager 'against his will', at News24 Joburg mayor to meet Samwu to iron out worker issues after city manager held against his will TimesLive reports that the City of Johannesburg will meet trade unions on Friday after there were disruptive unprotected protests across the inner city on Thursday. The protests saw workers shutting down a section of the M1 motorway for a few hours. Failure to fully implement the Political Facilitated Agreement (PFA) of April 2016 was the cause of the action. A statement by Johannesburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse and MMC for group corporate and share services Leah Knott said the Joburg multiparty government was incensed by acts of destruction committed by union members. “It is also unacceptable that the acting city manager, Bryne Maduka, was held against his will during this ordeal,” they said. Phalatse and Knott pointed out that the new administration had re-established the local labour forum (LLF) to promote a healthy relationship between employer and organised labour. Knott participates in the LLF as a means of practising political oversight. “The events of today are in complete contradiction to the work done to foster an open and constructive relationship between the city and labour. Despite Thursday's events, we have agreed to sit around the negotiating table on Friday with labour unions to iron out issues that may still exist,” Phalatse and Knott indicated, adding that the city would use the opportunity to register its "anger and displeasure" at the unruly behaviour of union members. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at TimesLive
NUM to celebrate fortieth anniversary on 4 December in Polokwane Mining Weekly reports that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will celebrate its fortieth anniversary at the old Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, Limpopo, on 4 December. Established in 1982 in Klerksdorp (now Matlosana), the NUM was initially led by general secretary Cyril Ramaphosa, president James Motlatsi and deputy president Elijah Barayi, becoming one of the fastest growing unions in the world with a membership over 300,000 mineworkers in the 1980s. The NUM became a key stakeholder in the formation of the country’s biggest federation of unions, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in 1985. In less than a year of its formation, the NUM was recognised by the then Chamber of Mines as the union representing mineworkers in categories one to eight employees in August 1983. Subsequently, the NUM extended its scope of operation to cover energy, particularly for Eskom and construction employees, in the early 2000s. It further extended its scope to the metal workers sector from 2019 and now operates in the mining, energy, construction and metal and allied industries. The NUM, since formation, aligned itself with the African National Congress. As one of its historical events, the NUM organised the 1987 gold mine strike, which took 21 days to resolve. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly Other general posting(s) relating to mining
Post Office once again doesn't have enough money to pay over medical aid contributions News24 reports that for the second time in the past two months, the SA Post Office (SAPO) failed to pay over staff medical aid contributions to its medical aid provider, Medipos. SAPO spokesperson Johan Kruger confirmed that the entity had failed to pay medical aid contributions for November, but said that it was playing open cards with staff and working towards a solution. "The Post Office was unable to pay medical aid contributions this month owing to cash flow issues. Employees were informed immediately and the Post Office is implementing long-term plans to improve its finances," said Kruger. In October, trade union Solidarity had to take SAPO to the Labour Court in order to compel it to pay R4.5 million in contributions. Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Diane Kohler-Barnard said in a statement that she would report SAPO management to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) over the crisis. "The amounts are taken from their monthly salaries, but simply kept by the management. One would remember that the SAPO had earlier this year failed to pay over R700 million in Medipos contributions," said Kohler-Barnard. SAPO is planning to retrench staff to ease its financial burden, but the process is in the early stages. It is moreover scrambling to keep IT systems for the provision of social grants going as a contract that it has with Telkom for this purpose is expiring soon. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khulekani Magubane at Fin24. Lees ook, Poskantoor skort glo weer mediesefondsbetalings op, by Maroela Media Cosatu extremely concerned by Post Office’s plans to retrench almost 6000 employees IOL reports that trade union federation Cosatu is concerned about the SA Post Office’s (Sapo’s) plans to retrench almost 6,000 employees. This was indicated after the cash-strapped postal service announced that it would this week begin further consultation with labour unions about retrenchments amid a worsening of the parastatal’s financial state. Cosatu said SA could not afford to have a large number of employees retrenched while the country was in a shambles due to the high unemployment rate. Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said they had met with other affiliated unions such as the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and he confirmed that they planned to meet the Post Office management. They previously met with management on 5 November when they received the section 189 retrenchment notices. Pamla said this matter was extremely worrying: “The entire idea of having a government is that it should set the momentum and give a message to everyone out there that we create jobs and not destroy them. So if you destroy the Post Office then you are actually undermining the delivery of public service and sending a very toxic message to the private sector that they can follow everything the government does in destroying jobs.” He went on to say they were well aware of the financial turmoil within the Post Office and that the government needed to do more when it came to funding the entity. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sibuliso Duba at IOL
Court rules Solidarity's interdict application against health department’s advertisement of NHI posts not urgent News24 reports that according to the Department of Health (DOH), the Gauteng High Court on Thursday ruled that trade union Solidarity’s application to interdict the advertisement of National Health Insurance (NHI) posts would not be heard as an urgent matter. DOH spokesperson, Foster Mohale, said the department sought to fill 44 positions as part of the process to establish a fully functional NHI branch, pending the finalisation of the NHI Bill in Parliament. "The union filed an urgent court application in the Pretoria High Court on 12 October, preventing the department from making appointments of competent technical specialists to the NHI branch to assist with the preparations for the functioning of the NHI Fund. The judge has dismissed the application by Solidarity with costs," Mohale reported. Announcing its decision to file the urgent court interdict on 11 October, Solidarity had said the advertisement of the vacancies before the NHI Bill passed the parliamentary process was unlawful. It argued that advertising the vacancies before that process had been concluded demonstrated the department's willingness to violate democratic processes and disregard the concerns of people opposed to the NHI. On Thursday, Solidarity noted that the court did not deal with the substantive merits of the issue and that it was disappointed by the outcome. "The matter is self-evidently urgent. We are looking at possible further avenues and we may proceed with the further appeal of the judgment," the union indicated. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Cebelihle Bhengu at News24
Prasa suspends former acting CEO following 'serious allegations' of recruitment and procurement wrongdoing Fin24 reports that the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) has suspended its chief information officer, David Mphelo, in the wake of claims that he was involved in "irregularities in recruitment and procurement" while he was acting CEO. Mphelo served as the group's acting CEO for six months until 30 August this year, when he was replaced by Hishaam Emeran. In a statement on Thursday, Prasa's board said that it had received a report regarding "serious allegations" against Mphelo. It added: "The allegations against Mphelo involve irregularities in recruitment and procurement, amongst others. Given the gravity and seriousness of the allegations, the board resolved that it is in the best interest of Prasa that Mphelo be placed on suspension with immediate effect pending investigations." The agency has been hit by many high-profile suspensions and dismissals, along with fraud claims. Last month, Prasa placed its acting legal head, Thato Tsautse, on precautionary suspension over allegations of misconduct of a "serious nature". According to Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, Prasa recently launched a forensic investigation into "ghost employees" after the entity could not verify the existence of 3,000 members of staff. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jan Cronje at Fin24. See too, Prasa places former acting CEO Mphelo on suspension, at Engineering News Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Ex-Transnet legal head blames foul play for arrest on corruption and money laundering charges The Star reports that a former Transnet executive and managers of a company that did maintenance work for the embattled SOE were granted bail of R10,000 when they appeared at the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sitting in Palm Ridge on Wednesday. Kenneth Diedricks, who had been Transnet Freight Rail’s head of legal and forensics, appeared alongside two former Polyzomba Rail Contractors managers Charles Pretorius and Refiloe Martins. The three are accused of corruption and money laundering. NPA spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said Diedricks unlawfully authorised a settlement of more than R25m to Polyzomba in 2011 and thereafter received a kickback of R300,000. It is alleged that the executive also received as a bribe a carpet worth R20,000 from another company contracted to Transnet. The case was postponed to 7 March for the state to disclose the contents of the docket to the defence and for a pre-trial hearing. But, Diedricks told the magistrate that his arrest was an attempt by current and previous Transnet officials to silence him and prevent him from pressurising the authorities into investigating and charging them. Diedricks resigned from Transnet in 2014 after his life was apparently threatened. Since his departure, he has engaged with whistle-blowers and assisted many of them to open criminal charges. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Siyabonga Sithole at The Star. Read too, ‘I’m a whistle-blower’, claims Diedricks, on page 5 of The Citizen of 10 November 2022
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