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.
Ramaphosa says economic recovery plan will protect jobs in vulnerable sectors
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Engineering News reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa has assured South Africans that the economic recovery plan he presented last week will protect jobs in vulnerable sectors that have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Gauteng traffic cop shot while trying to pull over driver who skipped red light in Alberton
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TimesLIVE reports that a Gauteng traffic officer was shot when he tried to pull over the driver of a vehicle who ran a red light in Alberton on Friday.
Roundup on Monday, 19 October 2020 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, 16 October 2020.
Telkom’s IT subsidiary BCX contemplating 284 job cuts
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Business Report writes that Telkom IT subsidiary BCX is contemplating the dismissal of employees as part of its new organisational structure.
Ramaphosa’s short-term jobs plan 'ignores private sector'
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Business Times writes that economists and business leaders have cautioned that President Cyril Ramaphosa's economic recovery and reconstruction plan is overly focused on short-term public employment creation, with not enough to stimulate job creation by the private sector.
As state of disaster continues, discussions underway at Nedlac to extend Ters relief scheme
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BL Premium reports that discussions are underway about extending the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s (UIF’s) Covid-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (Ters).
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize in quarantine after he and his wife tested positive for Covid-19
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BusinessLive reports that Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announced in a statement on Sunday night that he and his wife have tested positive for Covid-19 and were in quarantine at home.
Unions say ‘lives on the line’ as SAA employees who took VSPs are still waiting for retrenchment packages
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Business Times reports that while the business rescue practitioners (BRPs) for South African Airways (SAA) wait for the government to source the more than R10bn needed to get the state-owned airline up and running again, unions say the human cost is high.
Labour Appeal Court, as court of first instance, to hear public-sector wage increase matter on 2 December
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BL Premium reports that the legal battle relating to wage increases for public-sector workers will be heard directly by the Labour Appeal Court (LAC) on 2 December.
Afternoon roundup of labour news on Thursday, 15 October 2020
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In our afternoon roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that appeared thus far on
Thursday, 15 October 2020.
Eskom officials pocketed millions of rand in kickbacks, SIU tell MPs
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TimesLIVE reports that the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has detailed the extent of the rot at Eskom before parliament, including how four officials pocketed R44m as “gratification” related to protracted delays in the utility's build programme of new power stations.
Limpopo cop in court for demanding money from detained drug dealer
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ANA reports that a Limpopo police warrant officer arrested for extorting money from a drug dealing suspect has appeared in court on charges of corruption and extortion.
Formal-sector jobs and pay hit in second quarter by Covid-19 shock
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BL Premium reports that formal-sector, non-farm jobs saw cuts across all industries during the second quarter, while people who stayed employed saw their pay fall sharply as much of the economy came to a near standstill under the most severe levels of the coronavirus lockdown.
New study shows Covid-19 has widened unemployment level disparities between cities, rural areas
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Engineering News reports a recent research report reveals that government’s Covid-19 response needs to be targeted more carefully to the distinctive challenges and opportunities of different places.
Scopa calls for corrupt officials to be blacklisted and stopped from resigning to avoid disciplinary action
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Independent News reports that Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) has called for tough new laws, including blacklisting officials who are involved in corruption and preventing them from resigning and joining other departments.
SA's schools to get R7bn windfall to hire 319,000 education and other assistants
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TimesLIVE reports that a total of 319,000 education assistants and other assistants will be employed at the country’s 23,093 public schools after the National Treasury approved a R7bn funding request from the Department of Basic Education (DBE).
Disciplinary action against Western Cape teacher who identified on CV as African, not Coloured, dropped
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News24 reports that disciplinary action over possible fraud against a teacher who identified as African on a job application, when previous documentation had him identified as Coloured, has been withdrawn by the Western Cape Education Department.
Samwu calls on municipalities that applied for exemptions to pay July salary increases ‘with interest’
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The Citizen reports that the City of Ekurhuleni and the Amathole District Municipality have been directed by the SA Local Government Bargaining Council (Salgbc) to pay salary increases to workers after exemption applications were turned down.
Health Minister says SA will push ahead with NHI as country emerges from pandemic
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TimesLIVE reports that as SA emerges from the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has promised an aggressive “catch-up” drive to restore community health services and persuade people to seek health care.
Numsa’s wage strike at Gautrain over after agreement reached
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TimesLIVE reports that Gautrain is set to resume full operations this week after reaching an agreement with the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), whose members had been on strike for nearly two weeks.
National taxi meeting hangs in the balance over NTA’s unresolved grievances
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BL Premium reports that a much-anticipated national meeting of the taxi industry is hanging in the balance after SA’s second-largest taxi organisation, the National Taxi Alliance (NTA), threatened to pull out and demanded that the government should first addresses its outstanding grievances.
Cricket players worried about their livelihoods if crisis at Cricket SA is not resolved by board resigning
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BusinessLive reports that the SA Cricketers’ Association (Saca) is incensed with Cricket SA (CSA)‚ with Saca CEO Andrew Breetzke maintaining that the continued existence of the embattled organisation’s crippled board was doing the game in SA more harm than good.
Striking workers call for boycott of Clover SA products
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GroundUp reports that according to the General Industrial Workers Union of SA (Giwusa), about 2,000 workers have been on indefinite strike at Clover SA nationwide since Tuesday.
Special Investigating Unit red-flags more than 5,000 Eskom staff members
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BL Premium reports that the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has referred more than 5,000 Eskom employees for disciplinary action and investigation for offences ranging from the failure to declare their interests, to doing business with Eskom and leading suspicious lifestyles.
Clover workers plan to strike over wage increase dispute
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ANA reports that the General Industrial Workers Union of SA (Giwusa) on Monday announced that it would be embarking on a national strike against Clover over a wage dispute. The union also called for the boycott of the dairy manufacturer’s products.
'Coloured' teacher on fraud charge for claiming to be 'African' in application for principal's job at Western Cape school
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TimesLIVE reports that a Western Cape teacher has been summoned to a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday for claiming to be “African” in his CV, instead of sticking with his “official” coloured identity.
Gauteng municipalities have a 20% vacancy rate at senior management level
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TimesLIVE reports that Gauteng’s Cogta and urban planning head of department Bongani Gxilishe has revealed that municipalities in the province have a 20% vacancy rate at senior management level.
Nupsaw threatens to strike at PIC over non-payment of performance bonuses
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BL Premium reports that a trade union representing the majority of workers at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) has threatened to go on strike if workers are not paid their performance bonuses.
Finance Minister asks parliament for postponement of medium-term budget speech to 28 October
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BL Premium reports that the Speaker of Parliament, Thandi Modise, announced on Tuesday that Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has requested that his medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) be delayed by a week to 28 October.
Ters payments to be honoured provided applications received before the end of October closing date
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BusinessLive reports that Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi told the National Council of Provinces on Tuesday that thousands of workers still waiting for payments from the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s (UIF’s) Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (Ters) would be receiving their money.