The soccer tournament and discipline at the workplace

It is important for employers to be prepared for the month during which the tournament takes place, and to advise their employees well in advance – so that there are no surprises for anyone.
Some events may have a direct (or even a significant indirect) impact on the workplace. (back)

Communication program
It is recommended  that employers consider a fact finding and communication program to establish how their workers will be affected by the event, what is their expectations, how can it be accommodated without interfering with production.
Practical arrangements may be considered, for instance to work in time in exchange for time off on certain days.

Transport
Transport may become more difficult, as the emphasis shifts from transporting workers to their workplaces to transporting spectators to and from matches. This means that employees, even with the best of intentions, may not succeed in arriving at the workplace at their normal times and some late coming may be due to bottlenecks in transport.

Employers need to prepare themselves and their workers if real transport problems are to be expected, and, if necessary, to draw up contingency plans in this regard. Whatever the real practical problems may be, employers should also prepare themselves for a possible dip in productivity, as employees engage in discussions about matches both played and forthcoming. These workplace discussions will, of course, be considerably more pronounced on the days on which the South African team plays. How much work will be done on those days depends on your ability to manage the situation.

Earlier this year, Tanya Venter, CEO of Tokiso Dispute Settlement, outlined some of the possible implications. She indicated that some forms of disciplinary offences may be more prevalent. There may, for instance, be increased absenteeism and late coming, as employees “take time off” to watch matches. This may be more pronounced on those days when the South African team play their matches.

Practical arrangements to suit production needs
The nature of the employer’s business will dictate his communication with his workforce.
If the employer is engaged in providing services related directly to the soccer tournament, for example, catering, security and transport, a stricter approach will be appropriate. In the case of businesses such as these, time keeping by employees and productivity may be pivotal, and the employer may not be in a position to take a more lenient approach. But here the principle applies as well: that employees should be informed, in advance, as to the approach the employer is going to take, the disciplinary offences to which it will attach considerable importance, and the possible sanctions that would apply, says Carl Mischke of Lexis Nexis.

Accommodation
Corporate travel is another aspect that will be affected. Already, flights are more expensive, and seats fill up much faster than they normally would. Hotel accommodation will be at a premium. More employees may elect to travel using their own vehicles – this will no doubt have a cost implication for the employer, depending on the employer’s travel policy (and whether the use of own transport is permitted at all).

Employers are advised to be well prepared for what could happen in the workplace. This would entail considering the dates, times and venues of matches, and preparing for some absenteeism and late coming at these times. Employers need to inform their employees well in advance as to what approach the employer is going to take. Given the nature of the event and the excitement of the event employers must work out a strategy beforehand, instead of reacting with a strict approach which may later seem to be unfair under the circumstances.

Employers may therefore well focus on finding some constructive alternatives rather than enforcing all the time-related workplace rules too strictly.

Consistency
Whether you take a lenient or strict disciplinary approach, as long as your workforce is aware of your approach, and aware of the disciplinary consequences of certain actions. If an employer has, for instance, never taken a very strict line in respect of late coming, it makes sense for the employer to indicate to all employees that late coming during this special event will be treated more seriously. Otherwise the employer may just find himself acting inconsistently, and employees and unions can raise inconsistency challenges.

In short: Be prepared for all eventualities during the month of the tournament. Advise your employees well in advance – so that there are no surprises for anyone.

 

 

Labour Inspectors blitz ahead of World Cup

The Bed & Breakfast, Restaurants, Pubs, Guest houses, Hotels, Tea Rooms Fast Food outletshave been placed under the spotlight as part of the Department of Labour’s drive to enhance and to ensure compliance with the sectoral determination for the hospitality industry during the World Cup.

The inspectors will focus on health and safety violations, compliance with the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, underpayment of salaries and failure to pay overtime in accordance with legislation.

During their previous swoop 871 workplaces were inspected; one employer had to pay back R12 000 for illegal underpayment of wages. Many employers failed to comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Act. 

Fines of up to R50 000 and/or one year imprisonment can be imposed. For incidents of death or injury, fines of up to R100 000 and/or 2 years imprisonment can be imposed.

A departmental spokesman  stated that it is of concern that many employers pay less than the prescribed minimum wages for workers.

COFESA assists employers to comply with the provisions of the Act:

• Contact your COFESA advisors to assist you with employment contracts and the applicable wage levels.
• The COFESA Hotline 0861 26 33 72 renders further support to members to avoid embarrassing litigation and fines. (back)

 

 

SECTORAL DETERMINATION 14 – HOSPITALITY SECTOR

Bed & Breakfast, Restaurants, Pubs, Guest houses, Hotels, Tea Rooms, Fast Food outlets

The Minister of Labour regulates this sector in terms of Sectoral determination No.14 – including the terms and conditions of employment for ALL employees in the hospitality sector not regulated by the Bargaining Council Agreements for the Restaurant and Catering industry. (e.g Gauteng).

What is regulated?

• Minimum wages and payment in kind (meals & accommodation);
• Leave, sick leave and family responsibility leave;
• Working hours and maximum overtime hours;
• Overtime payment and payment for Sundays and public holidays;
• Employment of contract waiters;
• Employment of casual staff, etc.

When will the regulations be effective?  It is effective since 1 July 2007. We expect the new minimum rates to be introduced with effect from 01 July 2010.

How will it be enforced? The Department of Labour has trained 674 new inspectors to ensure compliance.

How can we help you?  Get your COFESA advisor to verify that you comply with Sectoral determination 14.

• Make sure that you clearly understand the requirements and impact of Sectoral Determination No. 14 on your business;
• Ensure that you have proper contracts of employment in place;
• Ensure that you have a proper Code of conduct and Disciplinary policy & procedure;
• Conduct a labour law compliance audit;
• Conduct a Health & Safety audit;
• Maintain proper records, such as attendance register and pay slips;
• Register with UIF and Workmen’s Compensation.

Failure to comply can result in the immediate closure of your business and prosecution.

For further information or assistance contact the COFESA Hotline 0861 26 33 72 or your nearest COFESA office. (back)

 

 

Top labour lawyer will chair CCMA body
Reported on: 28 May 2010

Labour lawyer Tanya Cohen has been appointed chairperson of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration's (CCMA) governing body.
Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana announced on Thursday she would take up the position with immediate effect. Cohen had been serving as interim chairperson of the governing body since 2008, the CCMA said in a statement. This was after the departure of previous chairperson Zwelibanzi Mntambo.

Prior to Cohen's appointment as interim chairperson, she was serving as a CCMA governing body-organised business representative for five years.
The CCMA described her as "an active member in the labour market where she represents business on a variety of labour market and broader socio-economic matters". Her work experience included a 12-year career at Woolworths in employee relations, government engagement and human resources during which time she worked as part-time CCMA commissioner.

Cohen was also a member of a variety of Business Unity South Africa negotiating teams at Nedlac. She holds a Masters Degree in labour law and is a practising attorney specialising in labour market policy engagement. Cohen also serves as a director of the Retail Association.

CCMA director Nerine Kahn and CCMA social partners welcomed Cohen's appointment and believed she was well-placed to guide the body, especially in furthering its five-year strategy to promote social justice. (back)

Sapa
Iol.co.za

 

 

Plaasaanvalle

Die onlangse moord op mnr Eugene Terre-Blanche het weer die noodsaak vir goeie kommunikasie met werkers beklemtoon.

Landswyd is ons in ‘n posisie om in die landbou te help met kommunikasie programme om agressie te ontlont en werks- en arbeidsverhoudinge op te bou.

Die agri industrie is ook nou onder die vergrootglas vir inspeksies van arbeidsinspekteurs. (back)

 

 

Rassespanning en arbeidsverhoudinge

Vir 21 jaar werk ons landswyd daagliks op grondvlak om verhoudings te normaliseer met die toepassing van administratiewe geregtigheid. Ons het daagliks met voorvalle van geweld te doen en ons doen meer as ons deel.

Die berig van SAIRR skets ‘n skokkende prentjie. Mag die president se verklarings en sy toekomstige optredes meer effektief bydra tot goeie verhoudinge.

Die laaste  paragraaf gee ‘n aanduiding van wat ons moet nastreef
Ek haal aan ‘n omsendbrief van die “South African Institute of Race Relations on the ramifications of the killing of Eugène Terre'Blanche - 6 April 2010”.

The Institute 
The Institute desisted from issuing a formal statement in the immediate aftermath of the killing of MrTerre'Blanche in order to first gauge the broader social, political, and international reaction to the killing. The Institute is now in a position to make the following points.

Racial tensions in the country appear to have increased significantly in recent weeks. This appears to be chiefly as a result of incitement by the ruling African National Congress to 'shoot and kill' the Afrikaner ethnic minority in the country. The anxiety around this incitement may well have influenced opinions across the broader white community. What appears to be the case is that much of the racial rapprochement that characterised the first 15 years of South Africa's democracy is being undone. This rapprochement saw both black and white South Africans come to occupy a middle ground on race relations upon which the maintenance of future stable race relations depends. 

Since 1994 the number of white farmers and their families murdered in South Africa is conservatively put at around 1 000. It may very well be much higher. There are currently an estimated 40 000 commercial farmers in the country. Over this same period in the region 250 000 South Africans out of a total current population of approximately 47 million have been murdered. Criminal violence can therefore be described as 'rampant' and has done considerable damage to the social fabric of the country. However, this is not to say that all murders in the country are a function of simple criminal banditry. In an environment where law and order has largely collapsed the consequences of incitement by political leaders to commit murder must be taken seriously.     

Over the same period the policy measures put in place by the Government to raise the living standards of the black majority have failed to meet expectations. The key interventions of affirmative action and black economic empowerment have been exploited by the African National Congress to build a network of patronage that has made elements of its leadership extremely wealthy. The party also appears to have been so overwhelmed by corrupt tendencies that it is no longer able to act decisively against corrupt behaviour.

It has also through incompetence and poor policy been unable to address failures in the education system which are now the primary factor retarding the economic advancement of black South Africans.

At the same time the party is acutely aware that its support base of poor black South Africans has begun to turn against it. Violent protest action against the ruling party is now commonplace around the country.

In order to shore up support in the black community the ANC increasingly appears to be seeking to shift the blame for its delivery failures onto the small white ethnic minority, which today comprises well under 10% of the total population of South Africa. Here parallels may be read to the behaviour of Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe when that party realised that its political future was in peril. The ANC Youth League's recent visit to Zanu-PF which saw it endorse that party's ruinous polices are pertinent here. 

In such an environment it is plausible to consider that the ANC's exhortations to violence may be a contributing factor to the killing of Mr Terre'Blanche. Certainly the ANC's protestations to the contrary seem ridiculous as the party is in effect saying that its followers pay no attention to what it says - this from a party that routinely claims that it is the manifestation of the will of all black South Africans. This is not to say that a labour dispute or some other matter could not have inflamed tensions on the Terre'Blanche farm. Rather it is to say that a number of different matters should be considered in determining the motivation for the crime.

Certainly the ANC's exhortations to violence have created a context where the killings of white people will see a degree of suspicion falling around the party and its supporters.

It is of concern therefore that the police's senior management are on record as saying that they will not consider a political motive or partial motive for the killing of Mr Terre'Blanche. This suggests an early effort to cover up the ANC's possible culpability for inciting the crime.

Should any allegations of a political cover-up arise in the pending murder trial of the two young men accused of the Terre'Blanche murder the political consequences could be significant. Should evidence be led that the two young men acted with what they understood to be the tacit backing of the ANC, and a causal link between their actions and incitement by the ANC be established, then the possibility of charging the ANC's senior leadership in connection to the murder arises. Equally plausible is that the Terre'Blanche family and the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging could bring a civil suit against the ANC and the Government. 

It is possible that the killing of Mr Terre'Blanche will greatly strengthen the hand of a new hardened right wing in South Africa. In life Mr Terre'Blanche attracted a small, uninfluential, and extremist following. He will not be mourned for what he stood for. However, in death he may come to represent the experiences of scores of minority groups in the country who perceive themselves as being on the receiving end of racist and now also violent abuse from the ANC. In effect therefore Mr Terre'Blanche may be seen as having been martyred for a minority cause in the country.

The implications of a resurgent right wing will be numerous. It is most unlikely that this right wing will take the form of camouflage clad henchmen on horses in shows of force. The ANC has also often, wrongly, identified groups including the political opposition, Afriforum, agricultural unions, and even this Institute as 'the right wing'. This silly 'red under every bed' attitude in the ANC saw it lose the trust of many civil society and political groups. These groups could all be defined first and foremost by the common belief that they had to act within the bounds of what the Constitution prescribed.

But the ANC belittled and undermined them. It also undermined parliament, the national prosecution service, and the various human rights and other organisations that were established under the Constitution. It may yet usurp the independence of the courts and the judiciary. The result was a shutting down of many of the democratic channels that were created for citizens in the country to make the Government aware of their concerns and circumstances.

The resurgence of a new political consciousness among minorities could drive an altogether different political force. Such a movement will draw its strength chiefly from a hardening attitudes in the white community but perhaps also in the Indian and coloured communities. These will be views that in the main have come to subscribe to some or all of the following points:

However it is equally, if not most likely, that many minorities who subscribe to the five points above may simply get so fed up that those who can will pack up and go. Here they may take the advice of President Zuma to remain calm as they pack up their businesses and their families and calmly board aircraft for Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, and Great Britain. With the exodus will leave much of the tax and expertise base of the country. 
  
Should the ANC, however, find itself facing increased political resistance it will in many respects have a tiger by the tail. Firstly, the ANC depends greatly on the tax income paid by white South Africans to balance South Africa's books. Secondly, it depends entirely on the food produced by a small number of white farmers to feed the country. Thirdly, white South Africans still dominate the skills base of the country. Finally, and most importantly, much white opinion since the early 1990s has been moderate. White South Africa has been willing and often eager to cooperate with the Government in building an open, non-racial, and prosperous South Africa. Losing that cooperation will to an extent put an end to any serious chance that the ANC has of leading South Africa to become a successful and prosperous democracy.

While the ANC will be inclined to blame whites for this, and may even take drastic action to confiscate white commercial interests as they are currently doing in agriculture, these actions will be ruinous for the economy. The result of such ruin will be to drive a deeper wedge between the ANC and its traditional support base and thereby hasten the political decay of the party.  

When General Constand Viljoen decided to throw his lot in with democracy in the early 1990s the right wing in South Africa was a spent force. So it should and could have remained. The ANC could have taken advantage of white expertise and tax revenue to realise their own vision of a better life for all. Things have however gone badly wrong for the party. Corruption has destroyed its ability to meet the demands of its constituents while racial bigotry has now seen it defending its image against what should have been an insignificant and dying neo-Nazi faction in the country.

The failure of sensible South Africans to take back the racial middle ground in the country will be serious. Polarisation will beget further racial conflict and a hardening of attitudes on all sides. This is perhaps the greatest leadership test that the current Government has faced and it is one that they cannot afford to fail.   (back)

Sincerely, Frans Cronje
Deputy CEO  South African Institute of Race Relations 9th Floor
Renaissance Centre 16-20 New St South  Gandhi Square Johannesburg
Tel: + 27 11 492 0600 www.sairr.org.za