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Tuesday, 20 June 2017 15:39

In our Tuesday roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that have appeared since
midday on Monday, 19 June 2017.

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Monday, 19 June 2017 17:34

In our Monday roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that have appeared since
midday on Thursday, 15 June 2017.

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Thursday, 08 June 2017 10:24

Sowetan report that a pregnant woman died in a shoe store after allegedly inhaling toxic fumes from a generator.  Her family is still recovering from the shock of the incident that happened on Tuesday.

Ivy Makoma Shohledi, 30, of Tembisa, died in a Studio 88 toilet at Tembisa Plaza in Ekurhuleni.  She had been in the toilet when her colleagues started a generator in the store room next to the toilet after a power failure in the area.

Police spokeswoman Captain Nelda Hlase said Shohledi died on the scene.  Other staff members also inhaled the fumes, but were not as seriously affected.

Her devastated father said:  “I received a call from a relative who was at the scene.  I walked into the store room and found a generator on the floor.  She was also lying on the floor.  They said she was in the toilet and she could not come out.”

He went on to say:  “There are nine of us in the house.  I was retrenched and my wife works odd jobs as a domestic worker.  She was the only one with a stable job, and was a breadwinner.  She paid for her younger sister’s college fees, and was of great help to the entire family.  I just want them [Studio 88] to bury her in a dignified manner.”

Her boyfriend Nicholas Tabane wept as he spoke of their plans to get married.  “I love her.  We had already made plans to pay lobola in September.  I wanted to marry her.  I lost two people at once.  We were looking forward to having a baby.  This was my first child.  Life will never be the same without her,” he said.

Shohledi’s sister Melidah Malatja indicated that her sister was about four months pregnant.

When Sowetan visited Studio 88 on Wednesday the generator was still in the store room next to the toilet.  Studio 88 store manager Lucky Baloyi said the traumatised staff were given a day off.

A security officer at the shopping complex said all stores operated generators outside of the premises. “Generators are not allowed to operate inside a store.”

The original of this report by Pertunia Mafokwane is on page 8 of Sowetan of 8 June 2017

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Wednesday, 07 June 2017 12:07

The New Age reports that, while workers in the Mangaung metro continue with a strike to demand a salary adjustment, the city has had to make provision for services to be paid in by residents.

Since the strike started two weeks ago, most services have not been paid for as residents have struggled to access the Bram Fischer building and other municipal buildings around the metro.

City spokesperson Qondile Khedama said city management was ensuring that all essential services were not severely interrupted.  “The management and leadership of the city continues to engage with employees’ representatives in seeking an amicable solution to the dispute.  We have developed a plan that would create an environment that would allow unhindered service delivery and payment of services,” Khedama said.

He said they had also realised people who wanted to pay for their services were struggling as they were unable to access some of the municipal offices.  Residents and businesses who wanted to pay rates and taxes or purchase water or electricity services were advised to do so at various third party points.

Workers in Mangaung are demanding salary adjustments in line with the status of the city as a metropolitan municipality.  Mangaung became a metro in 2011.  Workers also want better working conditions.

Among other demands, workers want the employer to reinstate the contracts of temporary workers that were terminated earlier this year.  More than 120 contracts were terminated.  Workers said they wanted all the contracts of workers who were in the system for more than three months to be absorbed into the system.

Workers marched to City Hall saying they wanted councillors and MMCs to cease the daily political interference in the administration of the municipality.

Trouble had been brewing in the municipality since February when workers demanded their full pay for overtime they had worked.  They also demanded that the municipality do away with outsourcing and the privatisation of municipal services in departments such as finance, water and the sanitation section.

This report by Kamogelo Seekoei is on page 8 of The New Age of 7 June 2017

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Monday, 29 May 2017 11:31

Business Report writes that Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant was untruthful when she claimed more than 50% of the more than 21 companies that had been fined for contraventions of the Employment Equity Act were JSE-listed companies.

A list provided by the Department of Labour to Business Report of the companies that had been fined for contraventions of the act did not include a single JSE-listed company.

Oliphant made the claims about JSE-listed companies in a speech that coincided with the release earlier this month of the 17th Employment Equity report.  She said the report mirrored the glaring lack of appetite for transformation, especially by big corporates.

“It is very concerning that there are just too many JSE listed companies that are completely ignoring the law.  To date there are more than 21 companies that have been fined for non-compliance and several others that are on the verge of being fined.  JSE-listed companies alone account for more than 50 percent of the companies that have (been) issued fines for non-compliance,” Oliphant stated.

Masede Mosima, assistant director media monitoring and research at the labour department, provided Business Report with a list 26 employment equity cases that had been referred to the Labour Court and finalised either through an out of court settlement or a Labour Court order.

Of the 26 cases, 21 involved local municipalities that either reached an out of court settlement or a Labour Court order was issued against them.  In the remaining five cases, court orders were issued against Dold Circle, Guy Williamson, Indian Ocean Export Company and a court order issued against the department in a case involving Pick n Pay Giyani.  An out of court settlement was reached for a case involving the Hilton Hotel.  All the contraventions involved either operating without an employment equity plan or failing to report on an employment equity plan.

Business Report requested clarification from Mosima about Oliphant’s comments and specifically her references to JSE-listed companies, but he failed to respond.

Andre Visser, the general manager of issuer regulation at the JSE, said on Friday that the JSE was not aware of any companies listed on the exchange that had been convicted of contravening the Employment Equity Act.  Yet he pointed out that the Employment Equity Act was outside of what they regulated.  Nonetheless, Visser commented that the JSE strongly supported the transformation of the South African economy and believed it could contribute to this.  The JSE, for that reason, had commenced with the introduction of a new listing requirement last year that asked JSE-listed companies for disclosure on transformation issues.  Visser said:  “Having started this process with a focus on gender diversity, the JSE is now widening its focus to include racial diversity disclosure.

The original of this report by Roy Cokayne is on page 15 of Business Report of 29 May 2017

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