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 Friday morning roundup, see
summaries of our selection of recent South African
labour-related reports.
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Divide between public sector unions deepens as minority coalition rejects government’s revised wage offer Fin24 reports that the rift between trade unions in the public sector deepened on Thursday, with the alliance of unions that went on strike accusing those that did not of being sweetheart unions and of lying to workers about the 7.5% wage offer by the government. Public sector unions are now split almost down the middle with the non-strikers, which include all public sector unions affiliated to Fedusa and Cosatu-affiliated Sadtu holding 53.9% of votes in the Public Sector Coordinating Bargaining Chamber (PSCBC) and the rest of Cosatu's public sector unions and others with 46%. The slightly smaller, more militant coalition includes Nehawu, Popcru, Denosa, the SA Policing Union and other smaller unions. While the Fedusa-Sadtu coalition has approached its members to consult on government's 7.5% wage increase for 2023/24, the more militant group said they rejected it, arguing that after a R1,000 cash gratuity is rolled into the baseline of pensionable salaries, the actual increase amounts only to 2.8%. The R1,000 (after tax) gratuity was a sweetener paid to public sector workers for the last two years to soften the blow of below-inflation increases. While employees got the extra cash in their pockets, the amount was not included in pensionable salaries. The cash gratuity automatically falls away when a new agreement is signed. The rift between the striking unions and the government also deepened last week when the majority unions and government refused the minority the opportunity to re-open 2022/23 wage negotiations in the PSCBC. The minority coalition is adamant that the government had made a binding undertaking to re-open talks on the 2022/23 year in return for ending their illegal strike. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Carol Paton at Fin24 Paying off public servants with higher 7.5% wage offer ‘bad for SA’ BL Premium reports that its second offer in as many weeks, the government has raised its wage offer to SA’s more than 1.3-million public servants to 7.5%, which threatens to undermine the credibility of the budget tabled in February. The sweetened offer makes it more difficult for the Treasury to achieve planned fiscal sustainability as it pencilled in an average annual growth rate of 1.6% in government employee salaries for 2023/2024. The wage bill has been flagged by ratings agencies and economists as one of the biggest threats to SA’s credit outlook, already blighted by slow economic growth worsened by prolonged power cuts. The government’s sudden about-turn, after it risked the ire of unions when it reneged on implementing the last part of a multi-term pay deal in 2020 and unilaterally implemented a 3% offer in 2022, is seen as an attempt to woo the unions back into the fold to secure their support for the ANC in the 2024 general election. Labour analyst and DA MP Michael Bagraim described the revised offer as the government playing politics with the unions. The government “doesn’t have the money. This is politics playing out. The day after the 2024 elections the government will say, ‘we can’t afford to pay you anymore,’” Bagraim commented. North-West University economics professor Raymond Parsons said: “On the face of it, this [7.5% offer] is not good news for the credibility of the recent February budget, with its message of the key need to keep the outcome of public sector wage negotiations within certain tight limits.” When asked how much it would cost to implement the 7.5% offer, the Treasury stated: “Wage negotiations are still ongoing. Therefore, it will be premature to comment.” Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
Saccawu to start 10-day wage strike at Makro stores from Friday BL Premium reports that the SA Commercial Catering and Allied Workers’ Union (Saccawu) is set to embark on a 10-day strike at Massmart-owned Makro stores across the country from Friday in a bid to force the company to accede to its demand for higher wages. The Cosatu affiliate is demanding an across-the-board pay increase of either R900 or 12%, whichever is greater; a minimum wage of R8,000 a month; a R100 uniform allowance; a moratorium on retrenchments; 13th cheques to be made separate from December salaries; an improved commission for salespersons; and an increase in working hours from 160 to 195 a month. “The strike action at all Makro stores will resume from March 24 and will continue up until April 2. On Friday, March 24, Saccawu will be holding nationwide marches to various Makro stores to hand over [a] memorandum of demands,” Saccawu spokesperson Sithembele Tshwete indicated. The main march will be held in Pretoria, where the memo will be handed over to the Makro store at Wonderboom. Civil society organisations in SA and international trade union federations have apparently been galvanised to rally behind Saccawu and boycott all Walmart/Makro products during this period. On Thursday, Massmart’s Brian Leroni said they “fully anticipate that our Makro stores will continue to operate without interruption.” Saccawu embarked on a strike in December 2022 in support of its demands, but the company refused to increase its offer of a 4.5% pay increase. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
Power cuts slashed potential size of SA's economy by a fifth, says PIC Bloomberg News reports that power cuts due to load shedding have reduced the potential size of South Africa’s economy by almost a fifth since they started being imposed around 2008, according to an energy specialist at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC). Lungile Mashele, sector specialist for energy and infrastructure at the PIC, indicated to a conference in Johannesburg on Thursday that outages could be expected every week this year and if the inadequate electricity generation situation was not addressed the prospects for economic growth would be dismal. State power utility Eskom has imposed rotational blackouts on more than 200 days in 2022 and almost every day this year. Mashele, whose organisation manages R2.55 trillion, said outages were affecting everything from the timing of surgeries and the slaughtering of chickens to mining production volumes. Other current and potential impacts of the crisis include: marginal underground precious metal mines may close, leading to lower export earnings and job losses; the effect on the telecommunication network quality and availability; sewage spills due to outages; and a 250% increase over the last year in insurance claims due to the blackouts. The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday said it has reduced its economic growth forecast for SA for this year to 0.1% from 1.2%, largely because of the outages. "We really are in a crisis from a growth perspective," Annabel Bishop, chief economist at Investec Bank, said at the same conference. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Fin24. Lees ook, IMF bekommerd oor SA se ekonomiese groei, by Maroela Media Corruption not at the heart of Eskom's operational troubles, asserts new electricity minister News24Wire reports that the newly appointed minister of electricity has indicated that engagements with management at five of Eskom's coal-fired power plants have so far suggested that it was technical and investment issues, and not corruption, that were adversely affecting the performance of the utility's fleet. This week Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has been visiting each of Eskom's 15 power stations, including Koeberg. Speaking to the media during a visit to the Tutuka power station on Wednesday, Ramokgopa said he would not speak about corruption in aggregate terms. "There's 3,000MW that is locked in Kusile [that has] nothing to do with corruption whatsoever and [...] everything to do with design deficiencies. There's 210MW in addition to improvements to the [plant performance] at Kriel that has nothing to do with corruption; it's about the investment in the cooling towers. There is 1,000MW you can get from Kendal yesterday that has nothing to do with corruption, [and] everything to do with the fact that we can't remain within the [emission limits], because we have not invested in the plant," he pointed out Tutuka's management was the first so far to list corruption among its challenges, Ramokgopa said. Among the key issues contributing to the plant's poor performance was inferior coal quality, although this was not due to corruption, Ramokgopa said. Yet, briefing MPs earlier this year, former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter said Tutuka's performance was affected by significant criminality and that former plant manager Sello Mametja had to wear a bulletproof vest to work and he and his family were protected by bodyguards. Ramokgopa could not say why Mametja vacated his post. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Workers demand harsher penalties for farms violating labour laws GroundUp reports that new research on several Fairtrade-certified wine farms in the Cape Winelands has found that the working and living conditions at some of these farms fall short of the standards set by Fairtrade International. Fairtrade certified farms are supposed to uphold international standards for fair working conditions, including payment of the minimum wage, the right to collective bargaining and adequate housing. Farmers who are certified can usually export at a higher price. The premium paid on Fairtrade-certified products is supposed to be kept in a separate account and used to improve the conditions of workers and farmers. The researchers found poor housing on some farms, workers earning less than the minimum wage, exposure to harmful pesticides, and a lack of toilets and accessible water, among other things. However, the study also highlighted some of the improvements made to the living and working conditions on these farms. The study was commissioned by the Women on Farms Project (WFP) and 50 women were interviewed on 18 Fairtrade-certified farms. The study raised several points of concern and found that, while the wages of most farm workers had improved, at least 31% of workers surveyed claimed they earned less than the National Minimum Wage of R25.42 per hour. On Wednesday, WFP presented some of the report findings during a launch. Afterwards, about 150 farm workers marched to the Labour Centre in Paarl and handed over a memorandum of demands. The workers said that harsher penalties should be imposed on farms that violated labour laws. Read the full original of the informative report in the above regard by Liezl Human at GroundUp
Potstirrer Mantashe is not only SA’s mines and energy minister, but master of under-delivery Miningmx reports that last year marked the end of the SA mining sector’s honeymoon with Department of Minerals and Energy (DMRE) Minister Gwede Mantashe, whose replacement of the scandal-tainted Mosebenzi Zwane in 2018 was initially welcomed. DMRE Minister since 2018, Mantashe has had a roller-coaster relationship with a mining sector that initially embraced him but soon tired of the department’s collapse into dysfunction. When Mantashe failed to give his scheduled keynote address to the Joburg Indaba, a mining conference, in October, it was viewed in some quarters as the showing of a ministerial middle finger to the industry. Still, Mantashe’s department made headway on some fronts. It announced in November that the applications backlog had been slashed to 2,625 from over 5,000 in early 2021. The DMRE also scuppered its chaotic plans to tender for a built-from-scratch mining cadastre and now seems to have reluctantly yielded to the industry’s preferred option of an off-the-shelf system to provide transparency to mining rights. Mantashe also courted controversy in his typically combative style, accusing state-run power utility Eskom of trying to overthrow the state through its failure to reliably keep the lights on. That was seen as a key trigger for the departure of Group CEO André de Ruyter. But Mantashe’s political star remains bright. At the ANC’s elective conference in December he was re-elected party chairperson. The market views Mantashe as high on rhetoric, low on results. A five-year target in 2019 envisaged capturing up to 5% of world exploration spend. At the time, SA attracted just over a percent of world spend; last year it sank to 0.8%. Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Miningmx
All parties to appeal against ruling on standing of collective agreement regulating freedom of movement between municipal pension funds Moneyweb reports that in an unusual development, both successful applicants and unsuccessful respondents have applied to appeal a North Gauteng High Court judgment that declared a SA Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) pension funds collective agreement (CA) unlawful and set aside. The court ruled that the CA undermined the statutory obligations of pension funds in the local government sector and obligations imposed on the funds and their trustees by the Pension Funds Act (PFA). The entire CA was set aside with the exception of one clause. The successful applicants, in three cases, included the Municipal Workers Retirement Fund, the Municipal Retirement Organisation, the Germiston Municipal Retirement Fund, the Municipal Gratuity Fund, the Municipal Employees Pension Fund (MEPF) and Akani Administrators. The respondents included the SALGBC, the SA Local Government Association (Salga), the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) and the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu). The MEPF and Akani Administrators gave notice last week that they intend to seek leave to appeal the judgment at the Supreme Court of Appeal because Clause 8 of the CA signed on 15 September 2021 was not set aside. “Clause 8 is inextricably linked to the balance of the Collective Agreement and cannot remain in the absence of the other provisions of that Agreement which have been struck down,” they argued. Imatu’s Craig Adams said on Thursday that the union, together with Samwu and Salga, had also decided to apply for leave to appeal against the High Court judgment. He said the main objectives of the CA were to allow for freedom of association between funds, protection of contribution rates, and a process to accredit retirement funds. According to Imatu, the judgment could not be left unchallenged because it infringed on the constitutional rights of members to freedom of association. Read the full original of the detailed report in the above regard by Roy Cokayne at Moneyweb
Report finds that health officials use public service rules to stifle dissent among employees BL Premium reports that a new report from the non-profit Campaign for Free Expression (CFE) has found that health officials use loopholes in the rules that govern public sector employees to gag doctors and stop them drawing attention to the failings of state hospitals and clinics. Instead of acting on the concerns highlighted by healthcare workers, managers were turning on them, and subjecting them to disciplinary action and intimidation, said CFE’s Hanifa Manda on Thursday. Speaking at an event hosted by the CFE, the Progressive Health Forum and the Institute for Security Studies, Manda said: “Healthcare workers are censored. They are afraid to speak out because of a clause in the public service regulations that requires (them) to seek approval from a superior before engaging with the media.” She added that the clause was not intended to stifle dissent but was being abused by authorities to cover up their own wrongdoing. Fear of speaking out in the public healthcare sector ran so deep that only a handful of the more than 7,000 public healthcare sector employees who were asked by the CFE to complete an anonymous online questionnaire had had the confidence to do so. Many less-senior healthcare workers whose cases have not drawn public attention remain suspended, often for years, Manda said. At least 65 healthcare workers have been placed on precautionary suspension in North West Province alone. Suspensions were not only used to target healthcare workers trying to improve service to their patients, but also to protect people who had transgressed, said Wits University governance expert Alex van den Heever. “Many people are placed on precautionary suspension for a long time ... but there are no disciplinary consequences and they resurface in the system. It looks as though something is being done, but in fact (the issue) is just pushed off the radar and the people are redeployed in the system,” he indicated. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
High Court sets aside suspension of Mpumalanga police commissioner TimesLive reports that suspended Mpumalanga police commissioner Lt-Gen Semakaleng Daphney Manamela has successfully challenged her suspension. On Thursday, the Pretoria High Court set the suspension aside and ordered she be reinstated. A police spokesperson said the court's judgment was being attended to. According to online publication 013News, the court found national police commissioner Fannie Masemola's reasons for suspending Manamela to have been vague and the procedure followed to do so unfair. Manamela was suspended in February. Reportedly this had to do with her allegedly unduly receiving gifts, including vouchers worth thousands of rand, a TV stand, couches and household appliances. The gifts were allegedly donated to Manamela by several Mpumalanga police stations. While she declared the items, it was alleged she influenced the stations to donate them. Read the original of the short report in the above regard by Belinda Pheto at TimesLive Other internet posting(s) in this news category
Former Arts and Culture assistant director, service provider in court for alleged fraud of R1.8 million News24 reports that the Hawks in Gauteng have arrested a former assistant director at the Department of Arts and Culture and an alleged accomplice in connection with a series of fraudulent transactions dating as far back as 2012. The two appeared in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Wednesday. The accused were remanded in custody and the case has been postponed to next Tuesday. A Hawks spokesperson, Colonel Katlego Mogale, said the former department employee allegedly "provided fraudulent payment requisitions for three different companies" for goods and services not rendered. "The fraudulent invoices were valued at over R4.9 million, and the department suffered a loss of R1.8 million," said Mogale. The alleged accomplice was a service provider. Both suspects, together with the companies, were charged with fraud, corruption and money laundering. Read the original of the short report in the above regard compiled by Nicole McCain at News24 Cape Town mayor fires MMC Malusi Booi amid fraud, corruption probe The Citizen reports that Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has fired Malusi Booi as member of the mayoral committee (MMC) for human settlements. Booi, a Democratic Alliance councillor, was dismissed following his suspension from office last week. The MMC for Economic Growth and Tourism, Alderman James Vos, has been appointed to act in Booi’s position. These developments followed a SA Police Service (Saps) raid earlier this month at city offices, including the office of Booi, in which members of the commercial crimes unit seized electronic equipment and documents. The search and seizure operation was related to an investigation into allegations of fraud and corruption. No arrests were made and Booi has yet to be formally charged by police. In a statement on Thursday, Hill-Lewis said he had removed Booi from the mayoral committee with immediate effect, after receiving an updated briefing from Saps on the ongoing fraud and corruption investigation. While the councillor has not been formally charged, the mayor said the matters under investigation “are to my mind serious enough to warrant immediate action to protect the integrity of our government.” Last week, Hill-Lewis said he assured police of the metro’s full support in the ongoing investigation. Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Thapelo Lekabe at The Citizen Other internet posting(s) in this news category
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