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.
Ratings agency Moody’s endorses platinum sector wage accords
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BusinessLive reports that New York-based credit rating agency Moody’s sees the recent wage deals between platinum producers and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) as positive for SA’s sovereign debt rating.
As Joburg mulls re-absorbing municipal-owned entities, union watches closely
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BusinessLive reports that the City of Johannesburg is considering dissolving the boards of 12 municipal-owned entities and absorbing them back into the city’s structures.
Gideon du Plessis asks whether SA’s corporate work ethic actually benefits anyone
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Gideon du Plessis, general secretary of trade union Solidarity, points out that overseas employers are very keen to employ South Africans because we are known to be such hard workers.
Higher minimum pay rates for domestic workers from 1 December
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Fin24 reports that the minimum wage for domestic workers, including housekeepers, gardeners, nannies and domestic drivers, will be increased from 1 December 1 2016.
Liquidators accused by ex-Aurora miners of failing to honour deal
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Sowetan reports that destitute former workers of the ill-fated Aurora Empowerment Systems gold mines have submitted a list of complaints against liquidators of the company to the Master of the High Court in Pretoria.
Amplats, Amcu taken to the Labour Court by NUM and Uasa
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Business Report writes that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the United Association of SA (Uasa) on Monday took Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) to the Labour Court.
Web links to selected labour news reports posted on 7 November 2016
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Our links page provides references to South African labour news reports we have come across on the Internet on Monday, 7 November 2016
Moderate platinum wage deals mark Amcu’s new normal
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Dewald van Rensburg analyses the wage deals signed last week by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) with platinum producers Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), Impala Platinum (Implats) and Lonmin.
ConCourt to rule on Tuesday on Gordhan’s 2007 dismissal of SARS employee for racism
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IOL News reports that the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) is due to make a ruling on whether Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan (then Commissioner of the SA Revenue Services (SARS) had powers to fire a white employee for calling his supervisor a “k****r”.
Perceived racism at CSIR leads to outrage and picket
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IOL News reports that allegations of racism have hit the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), with black employees protesting on Friday to air their frustrations.
NUM welcomes life sentence handed to officials’ killer
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ANA reports that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has welcomed the life imprisonment sentence meted to a man convicted of the murder of two of its officials.
Fedusa supports extension of youth employment tax incentive
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ANA reports that the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) has welcomed the recommendation by government to extend the youth employment tax incentive (ETI) scheme by another two-year period from 31 December.
Suspend Zuma as President during inquiry into state capture, says Solidarity
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ANA reports that trade union Solidarity has called for the appointment of an acting president pending the finalisation of the report by the inquiry into allegations of state capture as directed by former public protector Thuli Madonsela.
King IV code still doesn’t give shareholders binding vote on executive pay
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City Press reports that the compilers of the King IV code have baulked at giving shareholders the right to block directors’ remuneration.
Maintenance skills crisis threatens to ground SANDF transport fleet
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TimesLive reports that the SA military might soon struggle to fly troops and weapons to war and disaster zones using its own aircraft because a skills and maintenance crisis threatens to ground the entire transport fleet.
Tongaat Hulett’s R50bn project in KZN’s Sibaya Coastal Precinct to create jobs
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Business Report writes that Tongaat Hulett is going to invest R50 billion in the next 15 years in the development of the Sibaya Coastal Precinct in a move that would boost the local economy and create jobs.
Web links to selected labour news reports posted from 4 November to 6 November 2016
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Our links page provides references to South African labour news reports we have come across on the Internet from Friday, 4 November to Sunday, 6 November 2016
Roundup of labour news on Friday, 4 November 2016
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In our Friday roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that have appeared since
midday on Wednesday, 2 November 2016.
Freezing of vacant public health posts leading to a crisis, say unions
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Cape Argus reports that according to unions representing doctors and nurses, a crisis in the public health sector is inevitable due to the Department of Health’s freezing of vacant posts.
Stop wasting our tax money on frivolous court cases, Cosatu tells politicians
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TMG Digital reports that trade union federation Cosatu on Thursday denounced the “wasteful expenditure of taxpayer’s money by public representatives on frivolous legal challenges”.
Employees at East London-based Bacalum set to down tools
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DispatchLive reports that East London-based Bacalum Manufacturers is heading for its first legal strike and lockout over wages and conditions on 14 November. The company is a manufacturer of high-end glass and aluminium fittings.
Durban firm cracks the whip over racist Facebook posts
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The Mercury reports that the decision by an employer to suspend a Durban man who wrote on Facebook that Indians were “low-class rubbish with no morals” has been seen by race experts as a step in the right direction.
Cosatu set against employment tax incentive
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BusinessLive reports that labour federation Cosatu has intensified its opposition to the employment tax incentive because of the government’s refusal to exclude labour brokers from the scheme.
SAHRC inquiry unhappy about lack of responses about mining living conditions
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TimesLive reports that the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has lambasted municipal and national government officials for not answering key questions in an investigation into socioeconomic conditions in mining communities.
Unions reach boiling point in OR Tambo region over shortage of nursing staff
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The New Age reports that health practitioners belonging to various unions in the OR Tambo region are threatening to down tools over a crisis caused by a “gross” shortage of staff and issues relating to study leave.
Cosatu has harsh words for the ANC
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BusinessLive reports that, in a further sign of the increasingly strained relations between the alliance partners, trade union federation Cosatu issued a statement on Thursday sharply critical of its allay the ANC.
Uasa claims wage agreement between Amplats and Amcu is ‘unlawful’
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The United Association of SA (Uasa) put out a statement on Wednesday claiming that the recent wage agreement signed between Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) was “unlawful”.
Lily Mine victims still mourned, even as new investors sought
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The New Age reports that it has been nine months since the tragic Lily Mine collapse in Barberton, Mpumalanga, and the lives of three families who lost their loved ones in the collapse have gone from bad to worse.
Treasury report shows that technical college system is broken
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BusinessLive reports that a newly published report by the Treasury shows that technical and vocational colleges are deeply dysfunctional.
King IV report unlikely to lead to less pay for executives
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Business Report writes that the proposals in the King IV Report on Corporate Governance on the disclosure and voting requirements on remuneration are meant to enhance transparency and are unlikely to lead to a decrease in executive pay.