Labour

Cleaners’ union wants the minimum wage to be raised to R5,000

19th December 2016 Joseph Chirume 0

The recent announcement by the government that the national minimum wage should be set at R3,500 a month has not settled well with some employees, including their labour organisations.
The contentious issue of the national minimum wage has been a subject of debate for many years the government, employers and labour unions. Labour unions feel that R3,500 is just a drop in an ocean in light of the current socio-economic situation plaguing the country.

Domestic workers’ union says the proposed minimum wage is too little

19th December 2016 Ramatamo wa Matamong 0

Whilst delivering his speech on the proposed minimum wage of R3,500 a month, Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa said that the national minimum wage was aimed at reducing income poverty and inequality. The  advisory panel which was looking into the the issue proposed that wages in the domestic work sector should be set at 75% of the proposed national minimum wage. In a report released in June by The National Minimum Wage Research Initiative of the School of Economic and Business Sciences at the University of Witwatersrand, 90% of domestic workers earn less than R3,120 a month.

Forced to sign with Smart Purse

14th November 2016 Ramatamo wa Matamong 0

An outsourced company has been failing careworkers in Gauteng.
After protesting for three months against their employment being outsourced by the Gauteng Department of Health, community health care workers including those in Alexandra said they have given up the fight.
They eventually decided to sign up with the outsourced company, Smart Purse, because they were locked out and not allowed to work.

Frontline Community Health Workers kept in the dark

14th November 2016 Noluthando Matshoba 0

In a country that has the biggest divide between public and private healthcare, community careworkers are not recognized as employees and do not enjoy labour rights and the protection of SA’s labour laws.
In a gloomy room in a cinder block RDP house so cramped there is barely enough space to move his wheelchair, Masixole Sosikela, 29, looks as if he is part of the furniture.
Sosikela lost the use of his legs in a car accident three years ago and has since been confined to the small house he shares with his mother and young brother. With his mother at work and his brother at school, he spends his days alone in the house in BM Section, Greenpoint, Khayelitsha. His only daytime visitor is home community health worker, Nikezwa Bara, who comes to see him three times a week. She spends about an hour with him, washing and dressing his bedsores, emptying his catheter and changing his linen. Bara also prepares him something to eat in the kitchen and wheels him outside to enjoy a bit of sunshine.
Bara is one of 106 community health workers (CHWs) in Khayelitsha who offer essential health and social services to over 1,000 patients who are bed-ridden or chronically or terminally ill. For these patients, the CHWs are a lifeline of care and company.

Xolobeni pits community rights versus mining

11th October 2016 GroundUp 0

The Umgungundlovu community of Xolobeni on the Wild Coast has filed an application in the High Court in Pretoria, against a number of government officials, including the Minister of Mineral Resources and the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform. The community is represented by the firm of human rights lawyer, Richard Spoor.

Robertson Winery workers on strike

13th September 2016 GroundUp 0

Workers at Robertson Winery are on strike calling on the winery to pay them R8,500 a month.
The workers, who protested outside the winery say they are currently earning between R2,900 and R3,500 a month before deductions, according to Karel Swartz, deputy general secretary of the Commercial, Stevedoring and Allied Workers’ Union (CSAAWU).

Abattoir workers win unfair dismissal case on appeal

13th September 2016 GroundUp 0

Robertson Abattoir workers have successfully appealed a Labour Court judgment in their case of unfair dismissal.
The Labour Court’s ruling against the workers last year was set aside recently by the Labour Appeal Court and the workers’ case will now be sent back to that court.

Youth force local shops to close over jobs for outsiders

13th September 2016 Max Qwayi 0

A shopping complex in Harare, Khayelitsha was placed under siege by a mob of about 30 angry youth from the area who demanded jobs at the small businesses be given to local residents.
The youth, believed to have been led by local ANC Youth League organiser, Yanga Mjingwana, converged on the Hilltop shopping centre where Spar is the anchor tenant. During lunchtime they disrupted shoppers and forced the closure of Learn to Earn and the Moholo Lounge.

Study links wage increase to job losses on farms

11th August 2016 GroundUp 0

The 2013 increase in the minimum wage for farm workers did cause a drop in employment, new research by the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit at the University of Cape Town suggests.
However, the researchers were unable to determine exactly how many jobs the wage increase cost. The study also found that the average wage for rural farm workers increased, meaning that the legislation was being followed.

Remembering Rana Plaza – 3 years on!

25th May 2016 Mzi Velapi 0

Three years after the horrific incident that left more than a thousand dead and thousands more injured, the  implementation and enforcement of health and safety in the workplace is still not receiving proper attention.