Labour

Farm workers claim right to strike

Robertson fruit farm workers have taken their employer to Labour Court this week to fight for their right to strike and to get their jobs back after being dismissed more than a year ago.

Yazeed Kamaldien

News | 20 June 2014

Plan to extend unemployment payouts

More than 8.5 million people are receiving payments from the Unemployment Insurance Fund. If a bill before parliament’s labour committee is passed, benefits could be extended to a year.

GroundUp Staff

News | 17 June 2014

“White foreigners”: The danger of history repeating itself

Gwede Mantashe, former chairman of the SA Communist Party, former general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and now the powerful secretary-general of the governing ANC, sounded furious this week. In what must qualify as the most ironic case of “we’ve heard all that before”, he blamed the platinum belt strike and the consequent crisis on “white foreigners”.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 13 June 2014

NUM and Nzimande defence of Zokwana raises questions about transparency for unions

The recent allegations of financial impropriety in the upper ranks of the SA Municipal Workers’ Union are only the latest in a string of similar scandals over the years. And it is little wonder that these have erupted, for many trade unions have transformed themselves into bureaucratic organisations with business links.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 11 June 2014

Can the platinum producers afford the wages demanded?

Like any good question, the answer to whether the platinum producers can afford the demands made by striking workers is: “it depends”.

Gilad Isaacs

Opinion | 9 June 2014

Unions get back to democratic basics

Misunderstanding and confusion about the platinum sector pay issue persists. And much of the media is to blame for repeating, without analysis, the public relations spin of the mining companies.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 2 June 2014

Striking miners come to Cape Town

North West province mineworkers striking for better salaries are lobbying with the power of film to gain support for their cause countrywide.

Yazeed Kamaldien

News | 29 May 2014

Anger as municipality forces small farmers to pay to use common land

Already hit by drought, small farmers in the Upington area will now have to pay fees to graze their animals on common land.

Selby Nomnganga

News | 29 May 2014

An ‘oasis of excellence’ in the arid karoo

For all the special pleading by the major teachers’ union, Sadtu and the assertions by basic education minister Angie Motshekga that all is well, our schooling system is in crisis.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 26 May 2014