Today's Labour News
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.
Cosatu slams Standard Bank’s planned branch closures and job cuts
- Details
The Citizen reports that Cosatu says the decision by Standard Bank to close 91 of its branches and retrench more than 1,000 employees countrywide has reinforced the trade union federation’s call for the Labour Relations Act to be amended to make it impossible to lay off employees easily.
Vadi engages Soweto residents over closures of taxi ranks
- Details
SowetanLive reports that taxi commuters in Soweto have demanded that rival taxi associations must resolve their issues in order for closed routes and ranks to be reopened.
Labour Court rules extension of Sibanye-Stillwater wage agreement to Amcu members lawful
- Details
BusinessLive reports that the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) lost a critically important court case on Wednesday in opposing the rights of Sibanye–Stillwater to extend the wage deal signed with three other unions at its gold mines.
Mother of pupil in Sans Souci ‘slap incident’ claims R150 000 in damages from teacher
- Details
News24 reports that the mother of a former Sans Souci Girls' High School pupil slapped by her Afrikaans teacher during a physical altercation has lodged a claim in the Equality Court for damages amounting to R150,000.
Farmworkers protest at Parliament on Wednesday for moratorium on evictions
- Details
GroundUp reports that over 200 farmworkers marched to Parliament on Wednesday to hand over a memorandum demanding an immediate moratorium on farm evictions, an urgent meeting with the minister of rural development and a task team to address farm evictions.
Hawks arrest trio involved in fatal shooting of off-duty Kranskop constable
- Details
News24 reports that three men have been arrested following the fatal shooting last Friday of a Kranskop police constable and a bystander.
Vaal Triangle taxi strike on hold on Thursday for Human Rights Day, to continue on Friday
- Details
News24 reports that taxi operators in the Vaal Triangle suspended their strike for Thursday in order to honour and celebrate those who died and others who were left injured on 21 March 1960 in Sharpeville.
Rob Davies warned that 'devastating' Copyright Amendment Bill could cost jobs
- Details
Fin24 reports that a coalition of artists, writers and publishers has written to Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Minister Rob Davies to challenge the Copyright Amendment Bill, which was due to be adopted by the National Council of Provinces on Wednesday.
National Union of Mineworkers agrees to rethink shutdown at Eskom during election week
- Details
BusinessLive reports that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will meet with its members next week to consider whether a shutdown at power utility Eskom will take place during the week of the May general elections.
Amcu accepts in-principle settlement as proposed by CCMA in wage dispute with Sibanye
- Details
Mining Weekly reports that the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) has accepted, in principle, a proposed settlement agreement advanced by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) in an attempt to resolve the wage dispute between the union and Sibanye-Stillwater.
Afternoon roundup of labour news on Tuesday, 19 March 2019
- Details
In our afternoon roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that appeared thus far on
Tuesday, 19 March 2019.
Cele asks doctors to stop giving shirking cops sick notes
- Details
Pretoria News reports that Police Minister Bheki Cele on Monday appealed to doctors not to give fraudulent sick notes to disgruntled SA Police Service (SAPS) members.
Reformist Cyril Ramaphosa faces his 'Thatcher moment'
- Details
Bloomberg writes that in 1987, Cyril Ramaphosa led SA’s biggest-ever mining strike, with some 300,000 miners — from a union Ramaphosa himself had founded — walking off the job to protest pay and working conditions.
No hindrance to policing despite 'unprecedented' absenteeism, Western Cape police management claims
- Details
News24 reports that police in the Western Cape were on Monday able to render services without hindrance despite unprecedented levels of absenteeism, provincial management claimed.
As Soweto taxi shutdown starts to hurt businesses, Vadi ponders whether to reopen ranks
- Details
SowetanLive wriites that while Gauteng transport MEC Ismail Vadi makes up his mind on whether closed taxi routes should operate or not, commuters and businesses are feeling the pinch of not having public transport in Soweto.
‘No strike,’ but hundreds of cops stayed away from work on Monday
- Details
The Citizen reports that Minister of Police Bheki Cele has vowed to check why scores of police officers did not report for duty on Monday amid rumours that the police, who are essential services civil servants, were going on strike.
JMPD deploys more officers as load shedding downs traffic lights
- Details
ANA reports that the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) said on Tuesday it had deployed more officers to manage traffic in the central business district after rotational power cuts by state-owned Eskom left many lights out.
Gauteng Transport claims to have cleared backlog of driving licence renewals caused by labour action
- Details
The Star reports that last week Gauteng MEC for Transport Ismail Vadi indicated that a large backlog relating to the late production of driver licence cards due to labour action had been successfully cleared.
Encouraging police officers to strike is reckless, says Public Service Association
- Details
ANA reports that the Public Service Association (PSA) on Tuesday said it was "alarmed by the irresponsible support" for police officers to embark on an "illegal strike".
Workers in automotive components sector must have a stake, says Numsa ahead of wage talks
- Details
ANA reports that according to the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), workers in the automotive components sector are disgruntled over the failure of employers to offer “equal work for equal pay” and recognise them as key stakeholders.
NGO community workers get boost with new professional qualification
- Details
News24 reports that a new professional NGO qualification will give community workers the skill-set to make an impact on social problems at local level.
Amid protracted strike, Amcu loses bid to interdict retrenchments at Sibanye-Stillwater’s gold mines
- Details
BusinessLive reports that in its ongoing war with Sibanye-Stillwater, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) has lost another legal battle, this time an attempt to stop retrenchments at the gold mines where the union’s members are engaged in a protracted strike.
Afternoon roundup of labour news on Monday, 18 March 2019
- Details
In our afternoon roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that appeared thus far on
Monday, 18 March 2019.
More cops die in car accidents than are killed by criminals because they won’t wear seat belts
- Details
Saturday Star reports that more police officers die in motor vehicle accidents than are killed by criminals, and one of the reasons for this was a culture of cops refusing to wear safety belts when they were in cars.
Families of deceased Lily Mine trio call on Mantashe to prosecute
- Details
City Press reports that the families of the three mine workers who died when a support pillar at a mine in Mpumalanga collapsed in 2016, trapping them underground, have issued a plea to Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe to ensure that those responsible for the accident are prosecuted.
Police say operations not affected following threats of strike action by officers
- Details
News24 reports that according to the SA Police Service (SAPS), it was business as usual at police stations across the country on Monday.
No sign of Public Protector's report on Metrorail failures in Western Cape
- Details
Cape Argus reports that almost seven months after the Public Protector (PP) confirmed that she was investigating the causes behind the myriad failures of Metrorail in the Western Cape, there are still no findings.
Ramaphosa, commuters stuck on suburban train for more than three hours
- Details
Independent News reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed to demand answers from senior officials of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) following his more than three-hour metro trip from Mabopane to Pretoria on Monday morning.
Medical schemes regulator backs Samwumed curator over union-appointed trustees despite Samwu’s bigger problems
- Details
BusinessLive reports that the medical schemes regulator is backing the curator of Samwumed as he prepares to put the scheme back in the control of elected trustees by the end of August.
Contractors will down tools in sympathy strike, Numsa warns ArcelorMittal
- Details
Business Report writes that the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has threatened to lead contractors at ArcelorMittal SA (Amsa) in a sympathy strike should the company not accede to its demands to permanently place contractors.