SA Labour News

MINING LABOUR

Chamber of Mines heads to court to halt 2017 Mining Charter

BusinessLive reports that the Chamber of Mines says it will apply for an urgent interdict to stop the implementation of the newly released Mining Charter by next Monday.  This came as the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) warned of a jobs bloodbath in the mining industry that would be exacerbated by the contentious charter.  The CCMA held a first of its kind forum with mining stakeholders, including the Department of Mineral Resources, in Magaliesburg on Thursday to analyse the state of the industry.  While speakers tried to steer clear of the charter released by Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane last Thursday, some projected that its consequences would be catastrophic.  The Chamber’s Elize Strydom said they planned to challenge the rationality of the charter among other legal issues they found problematic in it.  She also said the upward trend in jobs witnessed in the mining sector last quarter was likely to take a dive as the charter, if it succeeded, would put the industry under severe pressure.

Read this report by Theto Mahlakoana in full at BusinessLive.  Read too, Mining sector faces unrest and other woes, at Business Report

Mosebenzi Zwane consulted Cabinet on Mining Charter, says Zuma

BusinessLive reports that President Jacob Zuma has backed the controversial new Mining Charter, saying it would not adversely affect the sector, but would bring about much-needed change in the sector.  Responding to questions in the National Assembly on Thursday, Zuma said Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane had consulted with the Cabinet before unveiling the charter last week.  The Chamber of Mines (COM) and various stakeholders inside and outside the ANC have accused Zwane of pushing ahead with the contentious regulations without much consultation.  Zuma said:  "We could not stay at the same place particularly with mining … we have not seen visible change … we need to change ownership [patterns] and open it up to those who have never participated …. This cannot be an action that will [hurt] the sector."  The Charter has already wiped off over R50bn of the industry’s share value.  The COM, which represents SA’s biggest mining companies, is looking to challenge the charter in court.

Read this report in full at BusinessLive.  Read too, Zuma defends Mining Charter as an action that cannot cause harm, at Miningmx

Mines Minister Zwane 'chased away' from Mpumalanga community meeting

News24 reports that Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane had to be whisked away from an angry crowd closing in on him at a community meeting in Mpumalanga on Friday.  "You cannot come to another man's yard and do as you please," shouted one man at Zwane as the meeting degenerated into people shouting and booing at the minister.  He was supposed to be discussing the recently unveiled 2017 Mining Charter, which ups the percentage of required black ownership to 30%.  But people attending the imbizo at the Sydney Choma Community Hall in Middelburg would not let him speak.

A short report by Amanda Khoza and Jenni Evans is at News24

Much progress in mineworker housing delivery, but more needs to be done

Mining Weekly provides a comprehensive report on how matters stand regarding the provision of housing for mineworkers.  While many migrant employees do not want to permanently settle in mining towns, but prefer to maintain their homes in the rural areas and return to them, mining houses are focusing on promoting home ownership and encouraging employees to buy their own houses by rolling out programmes to educate their employees on the benefits of home ownership, in line with the Mining Charter.  Chamber of Mines employment relations head Motsamai Motlhamme says that the mining industry is exploring alternatives to current labour and work practices to address the concern around dual families.  “Key to this solution is exploring alternative shift arrangements and different shift cycles.”  This would enable employees to return home and spend time with their families more frequently and for longer periods and carries with it the hope of discouraging dual families.  “It is the mining industry’s view that the benefits of a better-housed workforce include greater labour stability and improved productivity,” says Motlhamme.  However, a 2015 Department of Mineral Resources report on compliance with the Mining Charter indicated that the drive to improve the living standards of mineworkers had not been fully realised.

Read this report in full at Mining Weekly

Mining sector faces unrest and other woes, says Chamber’s Elize Strydom

Business Report writes that Chamber of Mines chief negotiator Elize Strydom said on Thursday that the proliferation of illegal mining incidents and community unrest were some of the problems that have increased risk in mining in SA.  She was speaking at the National User Mining Forum on the platinum and gold sectors, an information sharing session that was hosted by the CCMA.  Strydom said community unrest had become common:  “Communities are demanding jobs.  They are making the lives of mines very difficult.  Daily we have roadblocks that prevent trucks from delivering goods to mines.”  Meantime, the industry was preparing with coal wage talks after agreeing to negotiate at a central level at the Chamber.  For the first time, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) will be represented.  Strydom said the gold sector wage talks next year will be problematic.  “This is because we have the NUM and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) which are struggling for membership,” Strydom said.

Read this report by Dineo Faku in full at Business Report

Ex-Aurora workers still waiting for payment of retrenchment packages

Sowetan reports that former mineworkers of Aurora Empowerment, previously owned by President Jacob Zuma's nephew Khulubuse and Nelson Mandela's grandson Zondwa, have yet to be paid their retrenchment packages.  This is despite confirmation that Khulubuse has stuck to a payment agreement plan he reached with the liquidators last September.  Khulubuse's lawyer and trade union Solidarity's general secretary Gideon du Plessis confirmed that Khulubuse has not skipped payments.   To date he has paid an estimated of R9.5-million.   Aurora was liquidated in October 2011 and its directors were found by the court to have stripped and destroyed the assets of the mine, leading to more than 5,300 workers losing their jobs.  Liquidator Gert de Wet said the payments were yet to be made because he has been waiting for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to submit pay slips of registered workers.  NUM spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu said the union was not the employer and did not have access to the payroll.  It will, however, hold mass meetings with workers to see if they could provide pay slips.

Read this report by Mpho Sibanyoni in full at SowetanLive

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING / INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

With public sector wage negotiations looming, a winter of discontent is expected

Terry Bell writes about the public sector wage negotiations that are due to start next month.  He says the view of unions across the labour spectrum is that the kleptocratic faction in government have squandered and misappropriated billions of rands and it is public sector workers and the public at large who are now expected to pay for it.  The unions claim, with ample justification, that cost-cutting and other austerity measures are now a government priority and they point to the fact that of the 1.3 million designated public sector jobs, at least 10% remain vacant.  Promises of improvements in grading, pay and conditions in various sectors have also been put on hold.  Ministers continue to claim that job creation is a priority, while supporting the freezing of posts in an attempt to cut costs.  “What it means is that fewer workers are available to provide services to the public,” says Ivan Fredericks of the 230,000-strong Public Servants Association (PSA).

Read this report, which also discusses the recent Gauteng mortuary strike, at Fin24

INDUSTRIAL ACTION / STRIKES / LOCK-OUTS

Gauteng mortuary strike may end today

The Citizen reports that Gauteng government mortuary workers could return to work on Friday after a two-week strike, according to the National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu).  Union spokesperson Khaya Xaba said on Thursday that workers would be encouraged to work overtime during the weekend to help reduce the backlog of bodies which have yet to be released to families throughout Gauteng due to the strike.  He said:  “We had a meeting with the [health] department and we did reach a settlement.  We are using today (Thursday) to consult with members and report back on the settlement so tomorrow (Friday) we will decide whether to go back on site or not.”  But the union refused to comment on allegations that drivers and cleaners at Gauteng mortuaries, some of whom are Nehawu members, had been performing post-mortems for the past 10 years.

Read this report by Simnikiwe Hlatshaneni in full at The Citizen

STAFFING / RECRUITMENT

Veteran Johnny Dladla appointed acting Eskom CEO

Engineering News reports that the board at state-owned power utility Eskom announced on Thursday that Johnny Dladla had been appointed acting group CEO with immediate effect.  The position of CEO and acting CEO has been vacant since late May, when a decision was made to rescind the highly controversial reappointment of Brian Molefe.  His reappointment was ostensibly made in order to avoid a R30-million early-retirement payment, which should not have been approved in terms of Eskom's own rules governing early retirement.  Molefe initially stepped down in January in the wake of a damning report by the Public Protector.  Moreover, Matshela Koko, who was appointed interim CEO when Molefe initially stepped down, is currently on leave to allow for forensic and legal investigation into a potential conflict of interest relating to contracts with his stepdaughter to be finalised.  In a statement, the Eskom board said Dladla's appointment followed "intense consultations" between Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown and itself “to arrive at a prudent choice”.

Read this report which gives information about Dladla’s background in full at Engineering News.  Read too, Brown appoints four new Eskom board members, at Moneyweb.  And also, Brown orders Eskom to finalise appointment of permanent CEO, at EWN

NUM calls for consultation on Eskom management changes

eNCA reports that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Thursday said the "lack of consultation" with key stakeholders on the appointment of the acting group CEO at Eskom and its board would lead to chaotic management at the power utility.  In a statement, the NUM said it noted the appointment of Johnny Dladla as acting group Chief Executive of Eskom with immediate effect.  But, the union said, it was extremely worried about the lack of consultation when it came to the appointment of key positions at the power utility.  "We want leadership that is accountable to the country, capable of stabilising the utility, as well as recognition of workers' input towards generation, transmitting and distributing electricity to our people," said Paris Mashego, the union’s energy sector coordinator.

A short report is at eNCA

JOB CREATION / YOUTH EMPLOYMENT

Gauteng to launch job creation drive

The Citizen reports that the Gauteng province is ready to tackle the scourge of unemployment head-on with the creation of 600,000 jobs by 2019.  This was announced on Thursday by provincial MEC for economic development, environmental affairs and agriculture Lebogang Maile during a pre-departmental budget vote.  He will present the province’s budget vote in the Gauteng provincial legislature on Monday.  Maile said the fact that 2.7 million young people were unemployed in Gauteng represented a “huge crisis” in a province with a population of 12 million.  The province plans to focus on the productive side of the economy, ensuring the availability of water, space and markets to potential investors.  Additionally, an amount of R42 billion has been invested in infrastructure development, a move Maile hopes will create jobs.  He also announced a move to integrate the R100 billion township economy into the mainstream economy by bringing big economic players to help small entrepreneurs in the townships.

Read this report by Eric Naki in full at The Citizen.  Read too, Maile’s 2017 budget to focus on jobs, at Engineering News

Axing of Pravin Gordhan stalls launch of youth internships

BusinessLive writes that a joint venture between the government and the private sector to create a million youth internships has become a casualty of the surprise cabinet reshuffle in March.  Colin Coleman, joint chair of the CEO Initiative’s unemployment workstream, said the launch, initially scheduled for July, was postponed to early 2018 as CEOs had to "remandate the team on the way forward" after former finance minister Pravin Gordhan was sacked.  Gordhan was spearheading a joint business and government grouping tasked with exploring ways to avert ratings downgrades and boost economic growth.  The grouping was also tasked with launching a R1.5bn fund to support small and medium enterprises, which has also been delayed.  A pilot phase involving large companies as early adopters could be implemented in September.  Coleman said negotiations with the government about incentives for businesses were under way.

Read this report by Asha Speckman in full at BusinessLive

OTHER REPORTS

SA businessman appointed as Vice President of International Labour Organisation

Business Report writes that South African businessman Mthunzi Mdwaba has been elected Vice-President of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Governing Body and will serve as its global spokesman for employers.  His election took place in Switzerland as part of ILO’s annual labour conference and it is the first time the tripartite organisation, representing 187 member states, will have an African as its employer spokesman.  Mdwaba said:  “I am extremely honoured and humbled by the confidence shown to me by business people and employers from all corners of the world to represent our interests at this level.  This is also testimony to the rise and influence Africa has in international matters.”  Mdwaba currently also serves as the Chairperson of the Council of the University of the Western Cape.

A short report is at Business Report