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.
Durban court employee injured by stray bullet in gang-related shooting
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TimesLive reports that there was pandemonium at the Durban Magistrate's Court on Wednesday when a court employee and a person accompanying two murder accused were injured in a gang-related shooting.
Putco workers vow to continue strike action, despite threat of termination
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The Citizen reports that Putco (Public Utility Transport Corporation) workers have vowed to continue striking for a salary increase and bonuses dating back to 2020, despite the bus company confirming it would be firing about 1,000 employees for the illegal strike.
Naesa and Saefa seek to appeal ruling on extension of MEIBC wage deal to nonparties
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BL Premium reports that two minority employer organisations in the steel and engineering sector have applied for leave to appeal a Labour Court ruling that approved the extension of a multi-term wage deal to the entire industry.
Jobs of some 1,000 Putco employees on the line over participation in strike
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Some 1,000 Public Utility Transport Corporation (Putco) employees have until Wednesday afternoon to make submissions as to why they should not be fired for participating in last week’s wildcat strike.
Busa raises questions after U-turn on skilled work visas adds new uncertainty
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BL Premium reports that SA’s embassies and consulates abroad will go back to processing long-term visa applications on-site after the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) backtracked on a centralised system, which had forced all applications to go to Pretoria.
UIF and Compensation Fund halt new investments by PIC in unlisted assets
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BL Premium reports that the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and the Compensation Fund have said no to ramping up investments in unlisted entities by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which acts as the asset manager for the two statutory funds.
Cosatu rejects ‘just transition’ as there are more pressing issues to be addressed first
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BL Premium reports that Cosatu has rejected ‘just transition’ moves to a low-carbon economy, saying there are more pressing issues to be addressed.
Morning roundup of labour news on Wednesday, 7 September 2022
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In our Wednesday morning roundup, see
summaries of our selection of recent South African
labour-related reports.
Cabinet considers economic relief package to ease cost of living crisis
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BL Premium reports that at its two-day biannual planning meeting on Monday, Cabinet began a debate about introducing an economic relief package to shield South Africans from the worst cost of living crisis in more than a decade.
Second round of CCMA-facilitated wage negotiations between Numsa and South32 to be held in mid-September
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Mining Weekly reports that the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has reached a deadlock in its wage negotiations with diversified miner South32.
Police unions mull strike as unions spurn public service wage offer
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Fin24 reports that unions representing police officers could consider strike action in protest against government's public service wage offer. The Cosatu-affiliated Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) and the SA Policing Union (SAPU) have both rejected government's 3% wage offer, along with the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (Nupsaw).
Nedlac issues new code on practical guidance for consideration of Section 77 strikes over socio-economic issues
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Business Insider SA reports that the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) on Friday published a code of conduct on its role in terms of Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act (LRA).
Morning roundup of labour news on Tuesday, 6 September 2022
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In our Tuesday morning roundup, see
summaries of our selection of recent South African
labour-related reports.
On Wednesday motorists to get biggest petrol price cut since 2020
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Fin24 reports that the price of both 93 and 95 unleaded petrol will be lowered by R2.04 a litre on Wednesday, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy announced on Monday.
Teba Trust Fund trustees unhappy with R80m sale of Ubank to African Bank
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Business Times reports that trustees of troubled Ubank, which is under Reserve Bank curatorship, have expressed deep dissatisfaction with the decision to sell a majority stake to African Bank for R80m.
City of Cape Town offers R100,000 reward for info about attacks on cops, municipal worker
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News24 reports that the City of Cape Town is offering an R100,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and prosecution of those who targeted police officials and municipality workers.
NICD cautions that wastewater data indicate an 'impending Covid-19 wave'
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News24 reports that in its weekly wastewater surveillance report released on Friday, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said an increase in respect of the week ending 23 August of Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) in certain wastewater treatment facilities might indicate an impending wave.
Worker-controlled Arnot OpCo fights bid by its joint partner to place mine into business rescue
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Business Times reports that directors of coal producer Arnot OpCo want the Johannesburg High Court to dismiss a business rescue application by its joint venture partner Salungano (formerly Wescoal), which last month approached the court to have the coal mine in Mpumalanga placed in business rescue.
Exit strategy for SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux likely to be revealed soon
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Sunday Times writes that reports of Jurie Roux’s demise as SA Rugby Union (Saru) CEO have long been exaggerated, but his departure now appears to be moving out of the realm of fiction.
Culture of corruption still bedevils Eskom, De Ruyter laments
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BusinessLive reports that according to Eskom CEO André de Ruyter, a residue of corruption remains at the state-owned power utility as it tries to claw its way back from the damage caused by state capture.
Only one in five of Prasa train stations still functional
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BL Premium reports that SA’s passenger rail and freight and operators are spending billions of rand a year on security to clamp down on theft and vandalism of infrastructure which have threatened, at times, a near economic shutdown of the country.
Saftu calls on civil servants to prepare for strike after rejecting state’s 3% wage hike
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EWN reports that the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) on Friday called on all public servants to prepare for a wage strike.
Cosatu considering radical policies to curtail foreign employee numbers
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Sunday World reports that the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is discussing radical policies that will significantly curtail the employment of foreign nationals in the country by compelling companies to limit such employment to 20% to 30%.
Roundup on Monday, 5 September 2022 of weekend labour reports
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In our roundup of weekend news, see
summaries of our selection of South African
labour-related stories that appeared since
Friday, 2 September 2022.
Cabinet welcomes new law barring senior municipal officials from being political party office-bearers
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Cape Times reports that the Cabinet has welcomed the signing into law of the bill that bars senior employees in local government from holding political office in parties.
Youth in Tshwane march to businesses, demanding jobs
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The Citizen reports that youth unemployment in Tshwane is a ticking time bomb, with unemployed residents taking matters into their own hands and going onto the streets, marching from business to business to demand job opportunities.
Overtime pay being raked in by 70 Durban Solid Waste workers
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The Mercury reports that concern over rampant abuse of overtime in eThekwini Municipality’s Durban Solid Waste (DSW) unit has deepened following revelations that one employee claimed R50,000 in overtime pay after working 317 hours of overtime.
Domestic workers urged to report national minimum wage underpayments
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The Mercury reports that the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) has urged domestic workers to report employers not complying with the national minimum wage (NMW).
Housing Development Agency employee sues for R10m after claim of rape at staff party and that she was promoted in return for her silence
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TimesLive reports that an employee at the Housing Development Agency has lodged three legal claims against the institution and against a colleague who alleged that the employee had been promoted for her silence after she was allegedly raped by two senior executives.
Neasa, Saefa fail in labour court bid to halt extension of MEIBC main agreement to nonparties
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Engineering News reports that the Labour Court has dismissed an application brought by the National Employers Association of SA (Neasa) and the SA Engineers’ and Founders’ Association (Saefa) to declare Section 32(1) of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) unconstitutional and halt the extension of the Main Agreement of the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC) to nonparties.