Labour

Farm worker activists acquitted

Four activists and farm workers, arrested two years ago while marching in the Koo valley outside Montagu, have been acquitted.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 10 November 2014

Marikana: World Bank loan undermines Lonmin’s arguments, says academic

During the hearings of the Marikana Commission, Lonmin executives said the company had not been able to afford to keep its 2006 promise to build 5,500 new houses for workers. Yet a year later, in 2007, the International Finance Corporation had made finance of US$150 million available to Lonmin - part of it for a "large-scale community development programme".

Alide Dasnois

News | 7 November 2014

Marikana: Phiyega “not fit for office”

Riah Phiyega is not fit to hold the office of National Commissioner of Police, say the Marikana Commission’s evidence leaders.

Alide Dasnois

News | 5 November 2014

Marikana: Lonmin’s broken promises

Lonmin has broken its promises to build housing for employees, say the Marikana Commission's evidence leaders.

Alide Dasnois

News | 5 November 2014

Marikana: how the police “constructed” their story

Police evidence to the Marikana Commission was "constructed" at a meeting in Potchefstroom soon after the massacre of 34 miners in 2012, according to the commission’s evidence leaders.

Alide Dasnois

News | 5 November 2014

Making a living selling smileys

Nombulelo Mtibe eeks out a living selling smileys. And no, a smiley is not an emoticon on your phone!

Pharie Sefali

News | 3 November 2014

Clarifying the COSATU confusion

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. I tender this classic apology on behalf of many of my fellow journalists who have recently misled the public about the situation regarding the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa) and the Cosatu federation.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 3 November 2014

Union calls for R2,500 minimum wage for domestic workers

Domestic workers are calling for the minimum wage to be set at R2,500 a month when the Department of Labour announces the annual minimum wage increase in a few week’s time.

Thembela Ntongana and Zintle Swana

News | 30 October 2014

etv: emails show who really runs the show

A credibility crisis in South Africa’s independent media is unfolding this week, writes Patrick Bond.

Patrick Bond

Analysis | 28 October 2014

Battle over stipends in public works programme

Bambanani is an organisation that provides community safety. It operates as a public works programme under the auspices of the Department of Community and Safety. But some of their employees --or volunteers, depending on your perspective-- are frustrated with the stipends they receive.

Thembela Ntongana

News | 27 October 2014

Who is to blame for the PO rot

The strike bound South African Post Office (Sapo) has been badly damaged. And not by greedy workers and belligerent unions, but by mismanagement, corruption and a total lack of planning and foresight. The strike in its eleventh week is not a cause, but a symptom of the malaise.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 27 October 2014

Lonmin’s Bermuda Triangle

Platinum mining giant Lonmin could have found the money to meet rock drillers’ pay demands instead of shifting funds between subsidiaries, possibly to avoid tax.

GroundUp staff

News | 16 October 2014

Of social class and door mats

The question of class came to the fore this week with that arch free marketeer Ann Bernstein and the Centre for Democracy and Enterprise (CDE) hailing the potential growth of a global middle class, among them teachers. At the same time, the Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) concluded its conference, declaring teachers to be “revolutionary professionals, agents of change...in pursuit of socialism”.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 13 October 2014

Lonmin stops press conference on its finances

Cape Town-based think-tank Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC), which was stopped by Lonmin from holding a press conference about the platinum company’s accounts, intends to hold the conference “very soon”.

GroundUp staff

News | 10 October 2014

The potential for economic change

Once again we are having calls from a number of trade unions for the private sector to exercise “social responsibility” in order to help build “a developmental state”. It is a far cry from 1996 when the combined labour movement presented alternative economic policy proposals.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 6 October 2014

Samwu expulsions unlawful, court rules

The Gauteng High Court has ruled that the expulsion of ten Samwu provincial office bearers by the union between April and June this year was unlawful.

Daneel Knoetze

Brief | 30 September 2014