MINING LABOUR

Sibanye Gold job cuts plan could affect 7,400 employees

Reuters reports that Sibanye Gold will be restructuring operations in its home market, a move that could affect 7,400 of its employees, the gold and platinum miner said on Thursday.  Sibanye, which employs 58,000 people in South Africa, will start consultations with labour unions and government about the restructuring of its loss-making Beatrix West and Cooke operations, the company indicated in a statement.  "Approximately 7,400 Sibanye employees at all levels may be affected as a result of the proposed restructuring," the producer said.

This short report by TJ Strydom is at TimesLive.  Read Sibanye’s press statement at Sharenet

Zwane’s activation of mining licence moratorium shows disregard for mining crisis, says Chamber

Miningmx reports that according to the Chamber of Mines SA (COM), the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) has implemented a moratorium on the granting of new prospecting and mining licences.  The industry lobby group said that this action highlighted mines minister Mosebenzi Zwane’s disregard of the crisis in the country’s mining sector.  “This moratorium will effectively freeze investment, prevent many companies from restructuring and may lead to even more job losses in the sector,” the COM said in a statement.  Zwane apparently instructed his regional offices to stop processing Section 11 new mining right or prospecting right applications by mining companies after 19 July.  The moratorium will also halt any changes of ownership of mining properties, which the COM said would “freeze investment”.  Zwane’s action was also said to subvert his own notice in the Government Gazette of 18 July which followed the COM’s application to interdict the DMR’s earlier Mining Charter redraft and which called for interested parties to lodge comments on the proposed moratorium by 4 August.  

Read this report by David McKay in full at Miningmx.  Read the Chamber’s press statement at SA Labour News.  See too, Chamber of Mines accuses department of freezing all rights applications, at BusinessLive

Amcu’s Mathunjwa calls on Zwane to stop ‘useless, senseless decisions’

In a telephonic interview with Moneyweb’s Warren Thompson, Joseph Mathunjwa, president of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), was asked about a number of the most important issues currently affecting the mining industry.  These included the DMR’s review of the Mining Charter, the call by the National Union of Mineworkers for Minister Mosebenzi Zwane to step down and Zwane’s proposed moratorium on the issuing and transfer of mining licenses.  Characterising the Charter as a code of good practice, Mathunjwa spoke about the need for a stakeholder engagement to set up the goals and the timeframes of how to achieve the goals.  But, he advised that Amcu had not been consulted at all on the revision.  Mathunjwa described the NUM’s call for Zwane to step down as opportunistic, but added that he was “not in favour of him”.  This was particularly so as Zwane had “never done anything” to recover the bodies of the three Lily Mine workers.  On the moratorium, Mathunjwa said that it would make matters worse because at the end of the day “we as the union will be facing job losses”.  He called on Zwane “to stop these useless, senseless decisions that he is taking.”  Mathunjwa also spoke about Riah Phiyega’s role at Marikana.

Read a transcript of this interview, or listen to it, at Moneyweb

Merger talks a ray of hope that Lily Mine will be reopened

Business Report writes that Australian mining company Vantage Goldfields is involved in merger talks with the Canadian-listed Galane Gold in a bid to reopen the Lily Mine in Barberton, Mpumalanga  Three mine workers remain missing after being trapped underground in a container at the mine.  Business rescue practitioner Rob Devereux indicated on Wednesday that documents for the merger were "just about signed", which would pave the way for the embattled mine to resume operations.  Once the merger is concluded, Galane would have 100 days to raise R200m through a placement on the Toronto Stock Exchange.  The funds are expected to flow in October, with R130m to be allocated for the development of the mine, and the balance to be used to pay creditors and the outstanding salaries of employees.  Vantage owns Lily and the Barbrook Mine, which were mothballed and placed in business rescue after they ran into financial difficulties in 2016.  Lily Mine has honoured its commitments to the families of the three missing mineworkers, Yvonne Mnisi, Pretty Mabuza and Solomon Nyarenda, after they received R200,000 each.

Read this report by Dineo Faku in full at Business Report

Other labour/community posting(s) related to mining

• Gold mining bloodbath continues as Sibanye eyes 7,400 job cuts, at Fin24

Other general posting(s) related to mining

• Mining Charter threatens Harmony, AngloGold asset deal, at BusinessLive
• AngloGold flags H1 losses over struggling mines, silicosis court case, at Moneyweb

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING / INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

Relief in sight as strike in metals and engineering sector may be averted

BusinessLive reports that a potential strike in the metal and engineering industries sector seems to have been averted, with trade unions and employers said to be edging closer to a deal.  The majority of the employers in the sector and all trade unions will meet on Thursday to finalise details of a proposed settlement agreement that could see negotiations come to an end by next week.  Johan van Niekerk of the United Association of SA (Uasa) said they were positive about the direction of the talks and added:  "We are of the opinion that if the offer that was given to us provisionally is confirmed tomorrow [Thursday], then the wage negotiations might be over."  But, Gerhard Papenfus, CEO of the National Employers Association of SA (Neasa), which has refrained from taking part in the current wage talks, said the agreement would be a "futile exercise" and indicated that the association would fight attempts for it to be extended to his members.  Solidarity’s Marius Croucamp described as "problematic" the fact that some of the employer bodies were not prepared to engage with labour.

Read this report by Theto Mahlakoana in full at BusinessLive

INDUSTRIAL ACTION / STRIKES / LOCK-OUTS

Nehawu and NHLS reach deal to end strike

The New Age reports that the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) and the National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) brokered a truce on Tuesday night following an acrimonious two-week strike that put the health of millions at risk.  Nehawu’s spokesperson Khaya Xaba said the NHLS and the union agreed on a 7.3% wage hike and the phasing out of outsourcing.  He stated that a ceasefire was brokered in the interest of averting a further crisis and added that they had initially wanted a wage increase of 14%, but revised it down to 7.3%.  According to Xaba, an important aspect of the deal was that they agreed to phase out the outsourcing of workers.  The union has taken a decision to suspend the national strike with immediate effect pending the finalisation of the settlement agreement.  Meantime, Acting CEO of the NHLS, Shabir Madhi, said the cash-strapped organisation was owed an estimated R8bn by the Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal health departments and sunk deeper into debt as a result of outsourcing laboratory services during the duration of the strike.

Read this report by Bonolo Selebano and Lerato Diale in full at The New Age.  Read Nehawu’s press statement in this regard at Cosatu Today

Hospersa strike at SANParks strike called off

Traveller24 reports that SANParks stated on Thursday that "all their employees who embarked on a strike action and are members of Health and Other Service Personnel Trade Union of South Africa (Hospersa) are back at their posts".  The union apparently wrote on Tuesday to SANParks formally announcing the unconditional end of the two-week strike action by its membership.  SANParks Head of Communications Janine Raftopoulos said they were glad that the protected strike had ended and that those who had participated were back at work.  She thanked all the SANParks employees who had ensured that day-to-day operations were not disrupted and also visitors for being patient during this period.

A short report by Traveller24

TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT / INSOURCING

CPUT agrees to insource workers following protests by students and workers

GroundUp reports that following a week of student-worker protests that resulted in a two-day shutdown, Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) agreed to insource security guards and cleaning staff.  The workers signed pre-contracts on 31 July which stated that they would be permanent employees of CPUT as of 1 January 2018.  The pre-contract also stated that finalised contracts would be given to the workers by 31 August and their pay slips would be available on 25 August.  At present, salaries are apparently paid directly into accounts without pay slips.  The University Council also committed to monitoring the insourcing process more regularly.  GroundUp asked CPUT management about the additional cost of insourcing, but the institution did not answer this question.

Read this report by Zoe Postman GroundUp

REMUNERATION / SALARY ADMINISTRATION

SAA staff salaries may not be paid as broke airline teeters

BusinessLive reports that with South African Airways (SAA) having run out of cash and being effectively bankrupt, it is feared it may not be able to pay salaries.  According to a cash-flow analysis provided by the airline to MPs on Wednesday, the state-owned airline went into a negative cash position in July when it had a net cash outflow of R568m.  It projects a further deterioration in the months ahead with net cash outflows of R936m forecast for August and R918m in September.  A relative improvement to a negative cash flow of R134m is projected for October on the assumption that the airline gets financing and government support of R792m.

Read this report by Linda Ensor and Sunita Menon at BusinessLive

SAA faces a wage increase protest on Friday, even as it officially runs out of cash

Fin24 reports that the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) and the SA Cabin Crew Association (Sacca) will march to South African Airways (SAA) on Friday over a request for pay increases.  This will come just as the state-owned airline revealed that it has run out of cash, meaning the employees might not even get their basic salaries.  The unions will marching to hand over a memorandum to SAA officials tabling their concerns, including the need for a wage increase.  “SAA is … refusing to increase wages for the majority of workers, including the cabin crew, ground staff, cargo staff, and technical staff, but it is willing to continue paying out generous packages to the pilots, who are mostly white and male,” Numsa and Sacca said in a statement on Thursday.  Numsa has lodged a dispute through the CCMA and mediation on these and other issues will apparently take place soon.  “We hope to reach an agreement soon because if talks fail, then we may have to resort to a strike,” Numsa stated.

Read this report by Matthew le Cordeur in full at Fin24

RETIREMENT AND OTHER EMPLOYEE BENEFIT FUNDS

Annuitisation of provident fund benefits postponed again, this time to March 2019

Moneyweb reports that changes to the tax treatment of provident funds, introduced as part of broader retirement reforms in 2015 by National Treasury, have once again been postponed for further consultation.  In terms of the proposed reforms, provident funds would be treated the same as pension and retirement annuity funds requiring the annuitisation of benefits.  This has been met with resistance, specifically from trade unions.  The change would mean that on retirement members of provident funds would only be permitted to take up to a third of the retirement benefit as a lump sum and the remaining benefits should be preserved.  But this would only be for contributions made after the implementation date.  The initial date for implementation was March 2016, which was postponed to March 2018 and will now most probably only be March 2019.  The unions want to firstly understand how annuitisation will fit into the entire social security reform package, but discussions on this at Nedlac are still at a very early stage.

Read this report by Amanda Visser in full at Moneyweb

MEDICAL SCHEMES / NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE

Experts decry plan to consolidate or dissolve medical schemes with under 6,000 members

BusinessLive reports that the plan by the Council for Medical Scheme (CSM) to consolidate or dissolve small medical schemes posed huge risks to the people who belonged to them and might force some to drop their cover entirely, industry sources warned this week.  They also predicted that the move was likely to be met with legal and constitutional challenges.  More than 228,000 people belonged to 31 medical schemes that had less than 6,000 members at the end of December 2015.  All but three of them were restricted employer groups, and all were in sound financial health.  Restricted employer group schemes generally subsidise members on low incomes, including pensioners, enabling them to buy cover they could not afford on the open market.  The decision to consolidate the industry is in line with the government’s White Paper on National Health Insurance (NHI), published in June.  Consolidation of the industry was necessary because fragmented risk pools were expensive, and limited the scope for cross-subsidisation, explained CMS acting registrar Sipho Kabane.

Read this report by Tamar Kahn in full at BusinessLive

COMMUTING

Damaged overhead wires delay Joburg commuter trains on Thursday

ANA reports that Metrorail said on Thursday that morning commuter train services operating in Johannesburg were experiencing delays of up one hour following infrastructural challenges.  Train 0841 damaged overhead wires at Jeppe Station, which resulted in a fibre break affecting Jeppe, Johannesburg, Braamfontein, Langlaagte, and Croesus control signal panels.  Trains were delayed from Germiston to George Goch due to an overhead power failure.  “Technicians are working hard around the clock to restore the service back to normal,” Gauteng Metrorail spokesperson, Lillian Mofokeng said.  Commuters were advised where possible to use alternative transport to get to their destinations.

A short report is at The Citizen

Other internet posting(s) in this news category

• Putco bus set alight in Soweto on Thursday morning, at News24