Taking COSATU Today Forward, 28 September 2021 #October7
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY #VoteANC #Cosatu affiliated trade unions scheduled to participate on World Day of Decent Work activities in South Africa #October7 |
Taking COSATU Today Forward
‘Whoever sides with the revolutionary people in deed as well as in word is a revolutionary in the full sense’-Maoo
Our side of the story
Tuesday, 28 September 2021
‘Deepen
the Back to Basics Campaign, Consolidate the Struggle
for the NDR and Advance the Struggle for Socialism’
Join COSATU Now
Fight against intransigence of employers who do not register workers with UIF at all workplaces!
Mobilize against #COVID19 infections Now!
We
shall overcome!
Contents
o Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
Ø Employment and Labour warns North West employers against non-compliance with Employment Equity Act
o South Africa
Ø Gender Equality issues out call for contributions on LGBTI+ Equality in South Africa.
o International-Workers’ Solidarity!
Ø Save workers’ lives and make occupational health and safety fundamental right
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
Employment and Labour warns North West employers against non-compliance with Employment Equity Act
23 Sep 2021
Employers in the North West cautioned against non-compliance with Employment Equity Act
The Department of Employment and Labour in the North West has cautioned employers against non-compliance with Employment Equity Act (EEA) during the its annual employment equity workshop for the province which was held virtually yesterday.
The workshops are being held under the theme: “Real transformation makes business sense”.
Speaking during the session, the Provincial Chief Inspector, Boikie Mampuru said most of the challenges they experience during their reactive/proactive inspections are that of employers amending Approved Employment Equity (EE) plans without informing the Department and Employers providing incorrect information on their EE reports, plans, analysis & EEA 7 amongst others.
For the 2020/2021 financial year the Inspection and Enforcement branch in the province had hundred and ten (110) EE focused inspections which were either reviews/re-assessment or monitoring. Of the sixty one (61) reviews conducted, nineteen were still non-compliant and were issued with Director General’s Recommendations which gave them sixty (60) days to comply; and in addition one from this nineteen was referred for Prosecution.
“Some of the reasons given for this non-compliance are that employers would claim to have lost documents when contract with Consultants ends or the EE Manager resigns; or employer confusing Accounting Officers (CEO) with Financial Directors or Office Managers. These a minor but serious transgressions that can have the compliance certificate withdrawn,” said Mampuru
This workshop was also part of the department’s plan to give an update on the EE amendments and EE sector targets. EE amendments are currently in parliament for processing and are expected to become an Act once all the necessary processes are finalised by March 2022.
The Amendment of the EE Act of 1998 is intended to achieve the following:
· To reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses.
· Empower the Employment and Labour Minister to regulate sector specific EE numerical goals.
·
To promulgate section 53 of the EEA for the issuing of the EE Compliance Certificate.
The workshops was targeted at employers and their employers’ organisations; Human Resources Executives and EEA Practitioners; EE Forum members; Assigned Senior Managers/Transformation Managers, Academics; Employees and Trade Unions; Labour Relations Practitioners; and Civil Society Organisations among others.
These workshops started early this month focusing on all the provinces. The remaining province is Mpumalanga and its workshop is scheduled for Tuesday, 28 September 2021.
More details are available on our www.labour.gov.za. Meanwhile, the EE reporting season for both manual and online reporting opened on 01 September 2021. The manual EE reporting period closes on 01 October 2021 and the online period closes in January 2022.
Media
enquiries:
Boikie Mampuru
Provincial Chief Inspector: North West
Cell: 082 908 2308
Province:
Issued by: Department of Employment and Labour
South Africa
Gender Equality issues out call for contributions on LGBTI+ Equality in South Africa.
23 Sep 2021
The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) will on Tuesday – 28 September 2021 – launch a national campaign to solicit public comments and contributions on the state of LGBTI + equality in South Africa. The comments will be used to identify key areas of intervention for the CGE to ensure the achievement of LGBTI+ equality in South Africa.
The CGE is a chapter nine institution tasked with ensuring the promotion of respect for gender equality and the protection, development and attainment of gender equality. In line with its powers to monitor, investigate, research, educate, lobby, advise and report on issues concerning gender equality, the CGE launches its #LGBTI+equality project.
The objective of the project is to assess the state of LGBTI+ equality in South Africa 27 years after the achievement of democracy in South Africa. Whilst acknowledging the progress over the last decades of our democracy: Equality in marriage, removal of sodomy laws, equal recognition of spousal benefits and inclusion of same-sex couples in adoption, also means a re-look at the areas where there has been little to no progress and even regression in important areas of transgender inclusion, forced divorces and intersex genital mutilation.
The eradication of explicitly discriminatory legislative provisions from South Africa’s law books has not eradicated societal prejudices that entrench and encourage discriminatory practices and actions in employment, access to health, criminal justice and safety and security. Whilst the Constitutional Court has recognised and declared unconstitutional various exclusionary provisions, this has had little effect on improving the life chances of the LGBTI+ community as a whole.
The Commission seeks public inputs from the public and civil society organisations on the following human rights areas of concern: (i) Criminal justice; (ii) Right to education; (iii) Labour and employment; (iv) Access to healthcare for transgender, intersex, and gender non-conforming persons; and (v) Any other human rights issues deemed crucial for the achievement for LGBTI+ equality in South Africa.
Contact Person:
Javu Baloyi (Spokesperson)
Cell: 083 579 3306
Issued by: Commission for Gender Equality
International #Solidarity
Save workers’ lives and make occupational health and safety fundamental right
27 September, 2021
According to the first joint WHO/ILO monitoring report, at least 1.9 million workers lose their lives every year due to the work-related diseases and injuries. However, when adding causes of death by risk factors not included and filling in information gaps from poor record-keeping to the data from 2000 – 2016, the number is closer to a staggering 3 million deaths.
Since the adoption of the ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work in 2019 with a clear statement on “safe and healthy working conditions are fundamental to decent work”, IndustriALL Global Union, together with ITUC and other global unions has been campaigning to get occupational health and safety recognised by the ILO as a fundamental principle and right at work. The current Covid-19 pandemic has underlined the necessity of urgent and long overdue steps by the ILO.
In November this year, the ILO Governing Body will decide on whether to include the matter in the agenda of the 2022 International Labour Conference. IndustriALL and other global unions are insisting that this needs to be done by amending the 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, as this would be the easiest and fastest way to include occupational health and safety in the ILO’s framework of fundamental principles and rights at work.
Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL Global Union assistant general secretary, says:
"The joint global WHO/ILO report discloses a reality we already know too well. All the killings of workers are preventable – enough is enough. This carnage must come to an end. We reiterate our strong demand to the ILO to make occupational health and safety a fundamental right, along with freedom of association, collective bargaining and others.”
According to the WHO/ILO monitoring report, diseases account for more than 80 per cent of the deaths, while 19.3 per cent are attributable to injuries. A disproportionately large work-related burden of disease is observed in Africa, South-East Asia and the Western Pacific, among males and older age groups.
The occupational risk factor with the largest number of attributable deaths was the exposure to long working hours (≥ 55 hours per week), followed by occupational exposure to particulate matter, gases and fumes and occupational injuries. The health outcome with the largest work-related burden of deaths was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, followed by stroke and ischemic heart disease.
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Norman Mampane (Shopsteward Editor)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Street, Braamfontein, 2017
P.O.Box 1019, Johannesburg, 2000, South Africa
Tel: +27 11 339-4911 Direct line: 010 219-1348