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Wednesday, 05 July 2017 15:46

In our Wednesday roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that have appeared since
midday on Tuesday, 4 June 2017.

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Thursday, 29 June 2017 18:29

In our Thursday roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that have appeared since
midday on Wednesday, 28 June 2017.

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Thursday, 29 June 2017 15:19

Business Report writes that the Chamber of Mines on Wednesday warned that between 50,000 and 100,000 jobs could be lost in the industry in the next few years if the 2017 Mining Charter were to be implemented in its current form.

The Chamber, which represents 90% of SA’s mining industry by value, said that the impact could even be felt beyond the mining industry.  “I know of two particular transactions that have been cancelled this week, because of the uncertain environment following the gazetting of the Charter,” the Chamber’s chief executive Roger Baxter said at a round table briefing.

The third version of the Charter, which was announced by Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane two weeks ago, aims to promote equal participation of all South Africans in mining.

Baxter shrugged off Zwane’s claims that the Chamber was anti-transformational, following its decision to approach the High Court in Pretoria to stop the implementation of the Charter.  He argued that the Charter could not promote transformation at the expense of the sustainability of the mining industry.  “Is this really a Charter that promotes the country’s transformation agenda or somebody else’s agenda?” he asked.

The Chamber previously said that it had achieved empowerment ownership levels of 38% on average, with the value of transactions since 2000 of more than R205 billion.

Baxter said that the Charter was drafted in isolation and also at the meeting, said the application for the interdict against implementing the Charter was to be heard in the High Court in Pretoria by 18 July.

Elize Strydom, chief negotiator for the Chamber, said that the Chamber expected to meet the deputy judge president of the High Court on Thursday to discuss why its application was urgent.  She said that the Chamber also wanted the Charter to be reviewed and had 60 days in which to prepare its application, adding that they wanted the court to re-enroll the application for a declaratory order in respect of the continuing consequences of black empowerment in terms of the so-called ‘once empowered always empowered’ doctrine.

The declaratory order was put on ice last year by agreement between the Chamber and the DMR.

This report by Dineo Faku is on page 17 of Business Report of 29 June 2017

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Friday, 23 June 2017 14:42

In our Friday roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that have appeared since
midday on Thursday, 22 June 2017.

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Thursday, 22 June 2017 12:26

Sowetan reports that the two-week strike by Gauteng forensic pathology services workers might come to an end on Friday.  Provincial department of health officials and five workers’ unions met at the Bargaining Council in Pretoria on Wednesday where several agreements were reached.  These were expected to be taken to union members before another meeting on Friday.  “Both parties agreed in principle on many factors and they were all confident that their constituencies will agree with the outcome of the meeting and that the strike could end by Friday,” council general secretary Mpumelelo Sibiya said.  Department spokesman, Khutso Rabothata, said:  “We are crossing our fingers that we will come to a conclusion by Friday.”

The workers went on strike two weeks ago at Gauteng’s government mortuaries.  Grieving families could not get the bodies of their loved ones for burial as workers refused to do postmortems.  They complained about not being paid an allowance for cutting and closing corpses.  However, the department was adamant that dissection under the supervision of a qualified pathologist was part of the workers’ job description.  

Susan Ntlatleng of the Health and Other Services Personnel Trade Union of SA (Hospersa) said among the offers was the introduction of a monthly danger allowance for qualifying employees.  “The employer has also offered to pay a remedial once-off amount to qualifying officers and other employees who were performing the same function,” said Ntlatleng.

The original of this report by Lindile Sifile is on page 7 of Sowetan of 22 June 2017

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