Labour

The long wait for a trading permit

At least 40 Zimbabwean informal traders fear they may lose their livelihoods after delays in getting informal trading permits from Fezeka City Council offices in Gugulethu.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 25 November 2014

Abuse allegations against Philippi farmer

Thirteen workers from a farm in Philippi have accused their employer of contract breaches, unfair dismissal and abuse. But farm owner Edgar Meyer denies the allegations, and says that the proper dismissal process was followed.

Thembela Ntongana

News | 24 November 2014

Trade union supported political parties: lessons to be learned

Learning from the mistakes of others, and being aware of the basis of those mistakes, helps us not to repeat the same errors. This is something to which those individuals, groups and unions now agitating to move South Africa onto a new political trajectory via a trade union supported political party would do well to pay heed.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 24 November 2014

Farm workers union Csaawu should be saved

Csaawu is facing bankruptcy for supporting farm workers dismissed after the sector’s historic strikes in 2012/13 - arguably the strongest challenge to rural labour exploitation in recent South African history. This is the story of why it is important for the union to be saved.

Daneel Knoetze

Opinion | 17 November 2014

Massive implications of Cosatu crisis

It is no exaggeration to say that South Africa is in the midst of the most important political development since 1994.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 17 November 2014

It takes a worker 100 years to earn what a director earns in one year

In 1993, it would have taken the average labourer 40 years to earn what the average executive director of a top company in South Africa earned in a year.

Alide Dasnois

News | 12 November 2014

When the representatives of labour become employers

The very public scrap between former trade union leaders John Copelyn and Marcel Golding, both now billionaire business people, has raised a crucial question for the labour movement: the role of union investment companies.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 12 November 2014

Call for national minimum wage of R5,000 a month

“We would like the government to legislate a national minimum wage of R4,500 so that the private sector cannot get away with murder,” Langa resident Fezile Olifant told a parliamentary hearing on the national minimum wage in Gugulethu at the weekend.

Katy Scott

News | 11 November 2014

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: 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: 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: 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