Taking COSATU Today Forward, 18 October 2021
Norman Mampane
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#2021YearofCosatuLocals #Back2Basics COSATU holds successful Provincial Shopsteward Councils in all provinces #Back2Basics #ClassConsciousness |
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
Monday, 18 October 2021
‘Deepen
the Back to Basics Campaign, Consolidate the Struggle for the NDR and Advance the Struggle for Socialism’
All workers urged to take Covid19 vaccine jabs!
Organize at every workplace and demand Personal Protective Equipment Now!
Defend Jobs Now!
Join COSATU NOW!
Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
Ø Employment and Labour appeals to employers to comply with Covid occupational health and safety rules
- South Africa
- Statement on Local Government Elections
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Time for the World Bank and IMF to embrace full, decent employment
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
Employment and Labour appeals to employers to comply with Covid occupational health and safety rules
17 Oct 2021
Department appeals to all employers to comply with Covid occupational health and safety direction or face fines
The Department of Employment and Labour’s Inspection and Enforcement Services is appealing to employers, supported by employees and organised labour to comply with the minimum requirements of the 4th Direction, “occupational health and safety measures in workplaces, covid-19, 2021,” published on 11 June 2021.
This Direction applies:
· to employers and workers in workplaces who are permitted to continue or commence operations under the Disaster Management Regulations.
· these Directions apply for the duration of the national state of disaster,
· subject to the employer’s obligations under the OHSA to conduct a risk assessment, employers with less than 10 employees need only to apply Section 12 of Directions.
“If the employer employs more than 50 employees, that employer must submit a record of its risk assessment, to its health and safety committee and-retain a written copy of that risk assessment, plan and policy. (Section 4 of Direction)
“In addition to the other duties placed on the employer, an employer who employs more than 50 employees in a workplace must submit the following categories of data to the NIOH in the manner set out in the National Department of Health Guidelines,” said Chief Inspector Tibor Szana
The employer must submit the data referred to hereunder in the following manner-
(i) Only once in respect of each employee's status i.e.:
· Each employee's vulnerability status for serious outcomes of a COVID -19 infection;
(ii) Before Tuesday of each week in respect of the data referred to hereunder for the previous calendar week commencing on Sunday i.e.:
· details of the COVID -19 screening of employees who are symptomatic;
· details of employees who test positive in terms of a positive laboratory test;
· the number of employees identified as high risk contacts within the workplace if a worker has been confirmed as being positive;
· details on the post-infection outcomes of those testing positive, including the return to work assessment outcome;
The employer must inform its employees of the submission made to the NIOH/DoH and advise them of its adherence to the PoPI Act, 2013 (Act No.4 of 2013);
The employer may submit the indicated data to an employer association if the association has:-
(i) entered into an agreement with the National Institute for Occupational Health (NIOH) to receive, process and submit the data to the Institute; and
(ii) undertaken to submit the data on behalf of the employer.
The data as indicated can be sent directly to:
For the data collection and transfer to commence, the business or organisation would need to be registered using the Occupational Health Surveillance Systems Web Portal (available through this link: https://ohss.nioh.ac.za/(link is external) ) so that a Unique Business ID is allocated to the business. This unique business identity would need to be provided in every data submission transaction to the NIOH.
For data reporting, the OHSS support desk can be contacted via email: OHSwor...@nioh.ac.za(link sends e-mail) or telephone: 0713981169 or 0723215503
For technical queries, the IT support desk can be contacted via email: ohssu...@nioh.ac.za(link sends e-mail)
Templates and more information on the OHSS can be found at: https://www.nioh.ac.za/covid-19/occupational-health-surveillance-system-ohss-business-portal/(link is external)
In relation to Section 16 of the Direction, the following should be taken cognisance of:
· If a person fails to comply with this direction, an inspector may perform any of the functions in section 29 of the OHSA and exercise any of the powers listed in section 30 of the OHSA in order to monitor compliance with this Direction.
· In so far as any contravention of these Directions constitutes a contravention of an obligation or prohibition under the OHSA, the offences and penalties provided for in section 38 of the OHSA apply.
“It is therefore a contravention not to comply with the Direction published by the Minister of Employment and Labour and is punishable by up to R100 000 or two years imprisonment or both in the case where an employee becomes injured or dies,” said Szana.
Media
enquiries:
Musa Zondi
Cell: 067 426 4190
E-mail: musa....@labour.gov.za
South Africa
Statement on Local Government Elections
17 October 2021
The 2021 Local Government Elections will take place in the next few weeks and the communities of South Africa will once again express their voice on whom should represent them in governance. The ANC is confident that the people will once again express their overwhelming support for their liberation movement which has transformed this country from the ruins of colonial apartheid to a non-racial, non-sexist, and a democratic society.
The ANC still believes in the vision for Local Government that was so clearly articulated in the Ready to Govern document during the formative stages of our democracy, where-in it was recognized that there was a need for a strong and effective local government. As a result of the large disparities between local areas and regions, a strong central government is required to address the legacy of apartheid and to ensure more balanced forms of local development. Strong local government should be complemented by a provincial government whose primary tasks will be to ensure integrated and coordinated local development planning, the provision of appropriate regional services and to provide support to those local authorities which lack resources, particularly in the rural areas.
The ANC in Parliament has managed to strengthen legislation in order to deepen the transformation of Local Government and address some of the previous shortfalls. This includes the amendment of the Municipal Structures Act 3 in 2021 to provide for, amongst other things, the prohibition of a councilor who was found guilty of a breach of a code of conduct for councilors for a period of two years. We have also recently promulgated the Traditional Khoi and San Leadership Act of 2019, which allows for the representation of traditional leadership in municipal councils. These additions and amendments to pieces of legislation sharpen our ability to pursue the fundamental transformation of local government and further provide impetus for development that is tailored specifically for our local communities.
We also admit that the transformative project we have embarked upon has not been as linear as some of our critics would like society to believe, it has been complex and characterized by shortcomings that we learn from. The Auditor General’s Municipal Finance Management Reports have pointed as much, many municipalities still fail to adhere to the promulgated legislation such as the Municipal Systems Act of 2000, this has directly led to challenges in service delivery and under-development.
In the 2019/20 MFMA report entitled “Not Enough to go around, yet not the right hands at the till”, the Auditor-General sharply raises issues such as the collapse in governance, failure to fill critical vacancies, and financial mismanagement as being the contradictions which lead to corruption, malfeasance and the collapse of service delivery in most of our municipalities. The ANC in Parliament is alive to these challenges and has already identified hotspot municipalities, we have been intervening using constitutionally available mechanisms, these also include invoking section 139 of the constitution to place municipalities under administration.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration is already intervening decisively on the unemployment, poverty, and under-development challenges which still characterizes many of our communities through the flagship program that is the District Development Model (DDM). This is an inter-government approach to improve integrated planning and delivery across the three spheres of government with district and metropolitan spaces as focal points of government and private sector investment. The DDM is aimed at facilitating integrated planning, delivery and monitoring of Government’s development programmes through the concept of a joint “One Plan” in relation to 52 development spaces / impact zones through the establishment of national technical capacity as well as district hubs that will drive implementation of the program.
Finally, we would like to encourage the whole of society to vote for the ANC on the 1st of November 2021 and ensure that South Africa continues with the march forward towards the transformation of Local government to reflect the vision of a non-racial, non-sexist, and a democratic society.
Issued by the Office of the Chief Whip, Hon. Pemmy Majodina
For related media enquires contact:
Nomfanelo Kota at 067 415 1089
Acting Head of Caucus Communications
International-Solidarity
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Time for the World Bank and IMF to embrace full, decent employment
15 October 2021
Governments have gathered at the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank this week as the economic forecast shows employment falling behind growth. There is a global deficit of vaccines and a shortage of decent work that must be addressed to avoid a lost decade for workers.
Ahead of the meetings, the IMF extended cancellation of some loan repayments and took the crucial step of allocating $650 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDR), an international reserve asset. The allocation has already provided much-needed liquidity and freed up resources for crisis response in developing countries.
The benefits can be maximised by the reallocation of SDRs from high-income countries toward squeezed developing countries. At the annual meetings, governments and the IMF agreed to create a Resilience and Sustainability Trust Fund for this purpose. The Bank increased funding for vaccines by $8 billion and is updating its strategy on social protection and jobs.
Bold action
ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said: “In the coming months, vaccinations and debt relief for developing countries are an urgent task to enable a recovery led by employment. This will also be enabled by bold action to achieve universal social protection and create jobs in the transition to a net-zero carbon global economy.
“The IMF should swiftly launch the Resilience and Sustainability Trust Fund and use it to support just transition with climate-friendly job creation. To deliver its aims of shared prosperity and an end to extreme poverty, the Bank’s approach to social protection and jobs should align with international standards and the Sustainable Development Goals. Both institutions must clearly see full, decent employment as a guide for all policy.”
The global labour movement has proposed comprehensive measures for the international financial institutions to support a just recovery and transition, including speeding-up production and distribution of vaccines, and putting social dialogue and labour rights at the centre of climate action. The statement calls for suspension or elimination of surcharges on IMF loans, which put an unfair burden on countries in crisis. Discussions moved forward but no decision was reached.
Respect labour standards
The labour standards of the World Bank and its private sector arm, the IFC, are an important way that the institution has promised to protect workers’ rights on loans. However, it has not acted for over a year after trade union leaders at the IFC-funded Sheraton Grand Conakry were fired in retaliation for forming a union.
In the pandemic response, the Bank has increased the use of Development Policy Loans. These loans provide money to governments if they carry out policy reforms and are not subject to the labour safeguards.
“We call on the international financial institutions to promote and respect international labour standards and be guided by SDG 8 in all operations. The institutions should take immediate steps in this direction, including the World Bank Group strengthening safeguard implementation and checking that all Development Policy Loans align with ILO conventions.
“The Fund can adopt procedures for loans and policy advice that ensure respect for fundamental labour rights, including collective bargaining, and systematically address inequality. Both institutions should update their strategies on inclusive growth, jobs, and social protection to meet the moment,” added Sharan Burrow.
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WFTU condemnation statement on the sale of Air India
14 Oct 2021
The World Federation of Trade Unions, the oldest and only international class-oriented trade union origination, on behalf of its 105 million members who work, live, and struggle in 133 countries of the 5 continents, strongly condemns the unacceptable new stage of the Modi Government privatization policy.
After the plans on the disinvestment of PSUs and Government departments and privatization of several sectors (such as steel, banks, Ordinance Factories, etc.) the Indian Government aims the sale of Air India, the only Govt-owned air carrier that in several cases in the past supported the Indian people. The Modi Government once again offers free gifts to the capital, selling off public assets. The sale of Air India constitutes a continuation of the merger of Indian Airlines with Air India that took place under the hollow claims that it would save the Airlines.
The World Federation of Trade Unions stands by the side of the trade union movement and the people of India against the new privatization plan of the Modi Government that will lead to new losses of public assets that were financially supported with public money for decades.
__________________________
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