Labour

Mdantsane construction workers strike

Construction workers in Walter Sisulu in Mdantsane are refusing to work on the RDP houses being built by the municipality, claiming they are being underpaid.

Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

Brief | 17 September 2015

Making bricks for a living

A group of young men from Ndevana location near King William’s Town have found a way to put food on their families’ tables: making bricks.

Siphesihle Matyila

News | 17 September 2015

Big Issue vendor goes the extra mile

Simphiwe Mabuwa (45) goes beyond the call of duty as a Big Issue and Funny Money salesman at the intersection between Newlands Avenue and Dean Street in Newlands. Over the five years he has worked in the area, he has also taken on the role of community watchman and good friend to many passers-by.

Pasqua Heard

Feature | 16 September 2015

Keep fish factory open, demand Hout Bay residents

About 100 people marched through the streets of Cape Town on Friday against the possible closure of Oceana's Hout Bay Fishmeal Factory.

Barbara Maregele

News | 11 September 2015

Zimbabwean teachers in Northern Cape are desperate following months without pay

Fanuel (not his real name) teaches at a high school in Gaetsewe District in Northern Cape Province. He says he was last paid in June 2015 because his Zimbabwe Special Permit (ZSP) renewal application to the Department of Home Affairs is still pending. He appears to be one of dozens of foreign nationals in a similar position.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 11 September 2015

Will SA have more parental leave soon?

Parental leave has been a trending topic this year, both globally and in South Africa. Corporations, especially global tech companies, have been making headlines as they announce expanded maternity and paternity leave: From Virgin Management’s announcement that parents can now receive up to a year of paid shared parental leave, to Netflix announcing a year of paid maternity and paternity leave.

Czerina Patel

Analysis | 11 September 2015

Cape Town’s informal recycling squad

Robert Thompson has been collecting material for recycling in Cape Town since 1999. On an average day he makes R100, selling the cardboard and paper he collects to Harrington Buy Back Centre (HBBC) in the city centre.

Bernard Chiguvare

News | 7 September 2015

Is the sale of sexual favours work?

What is work? This question came very much to the fore over the past week after Amnesty International, called for “sex work” to be decriminalised. The international human rights organisation made the call after a two-year investigation into the “sex industry”. It came shortly after two local gender equality and human rights groups also called for law change.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 7 September 2015

Human Rights Commission turns spotlight on business

Human rights violations in the workplace are a growing issue says Karam Singh, Western Cape manager of the SA Human Rights Commission, which is focusing on human rights in business in 2015-16.

Barbara Maregele

News | 7 September 2015

Meet the Hanover Park woman who drives a taxi

What’s it like to be a woman taxi driver? It’s OK, says 52 year old Amina Stevens from Hanover Park - though some of her women passengers took a while to feel safe with her.

Siphesihle Matyila

News | 4 September 2015

Csaawu to raise R250 000 or face closure next month

The Commercial Stevedoring Agricultural & Allied Workers Union (Csaawu) has been going door-to-door on farms between Robertson and Ladysmith this week in a bid to raise enough money to keep its doors open.

Barbara Maregele

News | 27 August 2015

South Africa’s 5 million working poor

Every day millions across South Africa do arduous work in jobs that cannot keep them and their dependants out of poverty. These are the “working poor” and according to a new study, there are about five and half million of them.

Gilad Isaacs

Opinion | 25 August 2015

South Africa, colonialism, language and China

The whole question of colonialism has come to the fore again, courtesy of the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) and its vehement objection to the introduction of the Chinese Mandarin dialect to local schools.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 24 August 2015

Dismissed trucking company employee fights back

Johannes Chakuvinga lodged complaints of assault and unfair dismissal against Stikland company GSP Trucking in May with the industry bargaining council. Under the impression the company was closing, Chakuvinga was persuaded in July to settle for R5,750. But the company has not closed, and he wants to re-open his complaint.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 20 August 2015

Body of second drowned Hout Bay fisherman found

More than a week after he drowned, the body of Hangberg fisherman Faizel Lee was recovered on Saturday morning. Lee had been catching crayfish close to the Hout Bay fishing settlement. His father, Igsak, made the discovery opposite Duiker Island, near to where fellow fisherman Clint Jacobs’ body was found on 7 August. The two men drowned after going to sea in a wooden rowboat the evening before.

Kimon de Greef

Brief | 17 August 2015

Court ruling helps injured workers

The South Gauteng High Court has delivered a judgment that promotes openness and helps people injured at work, or the families of people killed at work, realise their rights.

Tim Fish Hodgson

Analysis | 17 August 2015