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Tuesday, 18 December 2018 13:31

The Star reports that, after parading in-sourced security guards at Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown, the City of Joburg is now being accused of exploitation.

The Association of Private Security Owners of SA said assertions made by Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba on the benefits of in-sourcing were proving to be contrary to what has transpired since the 1 800 security personnel were hired in July.

“The current working conditions faced by the in-sourced employees are tantamount to exploitation practices which were levelled against the private security employers who rendered security services to the city,” union general secretary Moses Malada said.

This was confirmed by one of the employees, who spoke to The Star on condition of anonymity.

“Security guards are made to work more than 200 hours as opposed to 196 hours as stipulated on our appointment letters. We work 22 shifts but are only paid for 14.

“We are supposed to work 48 hours per week but that does not happen. When we have to get paid we take home less than R7,000. Some guards earn just above R5 000,” the employee said, adding that since July 1 they had not been paid for overtime, Sunday and holiday allowances, as stipulated in their contracts.

Malada said that when the employees were appointed by the city, they were contracted to work for 16 days per month.

“They are now subjected to work for more than 22 days without being compensated for overtime, Sundays and holidays. About 200 of the 1,800 in-sourced employees have not received their salaries since having commenced their duties in July,” Malada said.

Mayoral spokesperson Luyanda Mfeka said the purpose of in-sourcing 4,000 guards was to “provide security personnel with the dignity of decent pay”.

He said the city had held a meeting to discuss the issue of allowances and had resolved that the “payment of allowances be paid in January 2019”.

“Joburg metro police boss David Tembe approved the payment of these allowances (Sunday, public holidays and night shift, overtime) on December 10,” Mfeka said.

“The claim that 3,000 workers are left in limbo is not true. The city has always communicated that in-sourcing of persons is to take a phased approach.

“The city ensured that all qualifying persons who were previously employed by service providers, of which their contracts were terminated during phase 1, were all employed via this in-sourcing process,” Mfeka said.

He also denied that 200 employees were not paid since July.

“Only 83 payments are currently outstanding as a result of some security officers not reporting for duty, while others are still yet to provide relevant documentation for payments to be made,” Mfeka said.

The original of this report by Sibongile Mashaba appeared on page 2 of The Star of 14 December 2018

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Tuesday, 18 December 2018 07:15

BL PREMIUM reports that Amcu will continue with its strike at Sibanye-Stillwater mines until three other unions can prove that they have a combined majority at the company's operations.

This comes after Sibanye this week extended a wage agreement signed with NUM, Uasa and Solidarity to all workers on the grounds that these unions now represent the majority of employees.

Joseph Mathunjwa, the president of Amcu, said on Friday that Amcu rejects the majority status of the three unions and that the onus was on the company and those unions to prove their membership.

"Sibanye is falsifying the numbers," he said, adding that Amcu had not received resignation letters from any members.  As far as we are concerned we are still on strike," Mathunjwa said. The strike was still protected as Amcu had not received notification indicating otherwise. But members could decide to return to work, he said.

James Wellsted, head of investor relations at Sibanye, said on Thursday that the collective membership of NUM, Uasa and Solidarity was now more than 50%, representing a majority, and allowed the company to extend the offer to all other employees in terms of the Labour Relations Act.

Amcu accused Sibanye of using "underhanded tactics" to recruit members for its rivals and enticing workers who do not belong to any union.

Wellsted said: "We ... reject the accusation that any underhanded tactics have been employed by the company. We have been forthright and open in all engagements with Amcu. The movement of employees to other unions is a demonstration that the majority of our employees strongly wish to exercise their right to work and provide for their families, despite significant intimidation from striking workers."

He added that Sibanye reserved its right to legal recourse in regard to the accusation it had sponsored violence. Wellsted said mineworkers who had not resumed work by yesterday faced disciplinary action.

The three-week strike at Sibanye's gold mines, Kloof and Driefontein in Carletonville and Beatrix in the Free State, has resulted in three deaths.

Amcu wanted a basic salary of R12,500 a month, with an increase of R1,000 a month in the next two years of the three-year wage deal. Other unions agreed to a R700-a-month increase in the first and second year and R825 in the third year.

Amcu called on NUM and other unions not to be used by "white monopoly capitalists" to further divide workers. In response to allegations by Amcu, David Sipunzi, NUM general secretary, said Amcu was "a vigilante union of killers" and asked why it was killing people if its strike was protected.

Sipunzi said the unions were not entirely satisfied with what they had negotiated but their members had given them the mandate to sign.

"We signed because our members said, rather than [us] taking down this company, let's accept [the deal] they are giving," he said.

The original of this report by Penelope Mashego and Mudiwa Gavaza appeared at BL Premium (paywall access only)

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Thursday, 13 December 2018 13:25

The Star reports that South Africa’s biggest public sector union, Nehawu, has called on the ANC to spread the removal of those implicated in the VBS Mutual Bank looting scandal to all provinces, and to ban them from the party’s political activities.

This week, the Cosatu affiliate held its last central executive committee meeting, in which it concluded its work for the year and crafted a programme for next year.

The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union’s call is for “full and immediate implementation” of the ANC integrity commission’s recommendation that all party members implicated in the VBS corruption saga be removed from all responsibilities in the public service and the party.

This comes as seven mayors were fired in Limpopo for investing more than R2.6billion with the now liquidated VBS Mutual Bank, more than R1bn of which is yet to be recovered.

The ANC’s Danny Msiza, who was dubbed by the SA Reserve Bank’s report the kingpin behind the kickbacks given by VBS Bank officials to those who facilitated the depositing of municipal funds into the bank, also announced his resignation on Tuesday.

Nehawu general secretary Zola Saphetha said the ANC’s campaign for next year’s general elections would be tainted if it did not ban all those implicated from the party’s activities.

“The national union holds a strong view that keeping such comrades in our midst creates a hazard to our campaign for votes,” Saphetha said.

Nehawu said it would push, through Cosatu, for their key demands to be reflected in the ANC’s manifesto, to be launched in Durban next month.

These included accelerated implementation of the National Health Insurance and Comprehensive Social Security system, an end to outsourcing and a stand against privatisation, especially at SAA and Eskom.

Saphetha said the union was alarmed by the power crisis at Eskom and the return of load shedding.

“While we applaud (former finance minister) Nhlanhla Nene for his refusal to commit the Treasury to the Zuma-Putin nuclear energy procurement deal, equally, a catastrophic development in the electricity sector is still unfolding.”

Saphetha said Nehawu would back Cosatu’s planned “socio-economic strike” in defence of Eskom’s coal electricity generation.

“The National Union of Mineworkers sponsored the resolution because there is an ongoing privatisation of electricity generation through foreign-owned, private, Independent Power Producers, which Eskom is indirectly forced to subsidise,” he said.

The original of this report by Siviwe Feketha appeared on page 25 of The Star of 13 December 2018

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Tuesday, 04 December 2018 13:57

Business Report writes that allegations emerged that branch leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) were holding non-strike members at the Gold Fields South Deep mine to ransom, as intimidation intensified with the attack on the union’s regional leader during a mass meeting yesterday.

Ndlela Radebe, the chairperson for NUM’s Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging region (Gauteng), is in hospital after he was stabbed in the neck and left shoulder at the Green Hills Stadium in Randfontein as he heard concerns of 800 non-striking members. A source close to the union said that non-striking members were raising their concerns after taking strain from the five-week-long strike aimed at opposing retrenchments.

“The problem lies with the branch leaders. They want to strike indefinitely until the mine is shut down. We have more than 3 500 workers who want to go back to work. It is totally irresponsible for the branch to want an indefinite strike,” the source said.

On Sunday Radebe wrote a letter urging the branch to end the strike.

“For more than three weeks to date, the region has been receiving countless calls from concerned union members that the strike is counter-productive and that it impacts them negatively and is threatening their jobs in the company,” said Radebe in the letter. He also said the union could not ignore the concerns of its members.

“We believe they (concerns) are legitimate, hence we are intervening and have decided to inform your branch leaders to bring the strike to an end and consider the proposed offer on the table, so that members can carry on with their lives and return back to work,” said Radebe.

NUM spokesperson said Livhuwani Mammburu said yesterday that the union strongly condemned violence.

“We do not encourage violence to address issues. Those who are responsible for violence must be arrested, even if they are union members,” Mammburu said, adding that the union was doing its level best to resolve the strike. NUM branch leaders rejected the company’s sweetened offer.

The sweetener, which included an increase in the severance package, would cost R40 million more than the R180m the company had already paid in retrenchment packages, the company said.

Since August, Gold Fields has retrenched 1 082 employees and 420 contractors at the South Deep mine.

Company spokesperson Sven Lunsche said yesterday that the company appreciated the NUM’s efforts to end the strike.

The company has previously said it hoped the retrenchments would be a game-changer for the mine, which has been losing R100 million a month.

Gold Fields shares closed 0.84 percent higher at R40.70 on the JSE yesterday.

The original of this report by Dineo Faku appeared on page 17 of Business Report of 4 December 2018

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Thursday, 15 November 2018 13:16

Business Report writes that operations at Dis-Chem Pharmacies are likely to be disrupted by a strike on Friday as the National Union of Public Service & Allied Workers (Nupsaw) and the management of the drug retailer are at a wage impasse.

Nupsaw’s national organiser, Solly Malema, said: “We have failed to reach consensus with the management on wages and other conditions at work. The strike will go ahead as planned on Friday and it will affect all Dis-Chem operations in the country.”

However, Dis-Chem has claimed that no union had sufficient representation at Dis-Chem.

But Malema said as far as the union was concerned they represented more than 30 percent of workers and the numbers could have been higher if DisChem had been loading their members on the payroll system.

Dis-Chem spokesperson Caryn Barker said: “We have already advised the union that unfortunately we are not in a position to meet their demands, so we expect the strike to go ahead on Friday.”

Malema said there were reasonable grounds for the union’s demands as Dis-Chem recently reported 13.3 percent growth in annual turnover to R19.6 billion, up from R17.3bn.

In the six months to end August, results released in October, Dis-Chem reported 13.3 percent increase in turnover to R9.61bn, as compared to R8.48bn reported last year while operating profit increased by 21.4 percent to R650.87 million.

Malema has accused Dis-Chem of not negotiating in good faith.

“Our members had their security wage adjustments reduced without any explanation. To make matters worse, there are no guaranteed annual bonuses, yet the employer is busy planning expansion of 20 stores in the 2019 financial year, with the hard work of its more than 13 500 employees. This shows that Dis-Chem is not ashamed of its treatment towards employees,” Malema added.

Nupsaw said Dis-Chem has failed to meet their demands, which included a minimum wage of R12 500 across the board and an increase of 12.5 percent for those above R12 500.

“We have members who are earning as little as R3 500 a month and we feel that the workers should be receiving decent wages considering the profits the company is making,” Malema said.

Nupsaw is also demanding a guaranteed annual bonus that is equal to the basic salary and a review of the bonus policy. “There is a policy that if one is on a final written warning they are not entitled to the annual bonus,” the union said. “The employer blatantly refuses to bargain with Nupsaw in terms of the employees’ demands and other conditions of employment.

“Nupsaw again had to turn to the CCMA for conciliation, which showed to be just water off a duck’s back. The outcome of the CCMA conciliation yielded Nupsaw a certificate, which permits our members the right to embark on a protected strike to express our demands and concerns,” he said. He added that the union was open to further negotiations with the company in an effort to prevent the strike.

Dis-Chem shares closed 0.96 percent up at R31.50 on the JSE yesterday.

The original of this report by Sandile Mchunu originally appeared on page 17 of Business Report of 15 November 2018

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