Little by little, the management of compensation for sick and injured workers is being shifted from the state to the private sector — and in view of the problems in the Workers’ Compensation Fund, this may not be a bad thing, writes Pete Lewis.
Pete Lewis
Feature | 5 August 2015
Thandekile Madikane tells his children that he works at the airport. He does not want his children to laugh at him for the job he does. But his job is vital. He is part of the city's operation to clean portable toilets.
Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik
News | 31 July 2015
Behind a very flimsy screen of unity and cohesion promoted over the past week by Cosatu president S’dumo Dlamini, the divisions in the country’s largest labour federation have become even greater. And, amid a welter of contradiction and debates about constitutionality, it is not surprising that so much confusion reigns.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 20 July 2015
The Building Industry Bargaining Council is investigating employees’ claims that money is still owed to the Council by Good Hope Construction (GHC), target of a protracted strike during which one employee died.
Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik and GroundUp staff
News | 14 July 2015
We are constantly being told, as the economy stutters and stumbles, that “we are all in it together”; that we have a “shared future”; that we have a patriotic duty to “build the nation”. And, for all the tub-thumping rhetoric about the evils of capitalism, this will almost certainly be the underlying theme of the Cosatu special national congress next week.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 14 July 2015
I have taken thousands of trips in metered taxis in Cape Town over the last ten years. In the last year or so I’ve switched to predominantly Uber taxis. Since I can’t legally drive due to poor eyesight, these are my primary ways of navigating the city. I therefore have a very significant interest in the battle between metered taxi companies and Uber. The aim of regulating an industry must ultimately be to serve the public interest. In the case of the metered taxi industry, the aim must be to ensure that a safe, reliable and affordable service is provided to the public, whilst of course ensuring that drivers are working under fair conditions of employment.
Marcus Low
Opinion | 13 July 2015
At Sweet Home Farm in an area known as Etheni near Brown Farm in Philippi, a number of families are making a living by selling recycled bricks for R1.50 a brick. New bricks retail for around R6.95.
Siphesihle Matyila
News | 13 July 2015
The Commercial, Stevedoring, Agricultural & Allied Workers Union (CSAAWU) has approached the Constitutional Court to overturn decisions by the Labour Court ordering the union to pay legal fees amounting to R600,000.
Mariska Morris
News | 7 July 2015
As part of the City of Cape Town's plans to rationalise municipal facilities, the South African National Circus School (SAN Circus) will have to vacate their premises in Observatory, after their lease was terminated before it was set to expire.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
Feature | 3 July 2015
Between 1,500 and 2,000 miners a year still apply for compensation for silicosis and TB contracted on the gold mines - yet the mining industry is doing very little to share the burden of these deadly diseases, writes Pete Lewis.
Pete Lewis
Opinion | 2 July 2015
Phakisa, from the Sesotho word meaning "hurry up", has been touted by government as the silver bullet that would “fast track the implementation of solutions on critical development issues.”
Christopher Rutledge
Opinion | 1 July 2015
Trade unions — as democratic organisations of the sellers of labour — are probably more relevant now than they have ever been. Especially for anyone who feels that democracy is an important concept. Unfortunately, however, most of the unions remain narrowly focussed in a manner better suited to fighting the battles of an earlier era.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 29 June 2015
The Californian-born transport company, known as Uber, first came to Cape Town in August 2013. Two and a half years later, it has approximately 2,000 drivers in South Africa’s three main cities, many more thousands of users, and ambitious plans for expansion. The company is rapidly reconfiguring the metred taxi industry in the country.
Ben Stanwix
Feature | 22 June 2015
Are we on a slippery slope to authoritarianism? It’s a valid question to ask since both the Cosatu and the national constitutions have been undermined. And they were both, in their own way, flag bearers of the democratic promise of the new South Africa.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 22 June 2015
There is just the faintest breeze of renewal and democracy wafting through the bureaucratic corridors of Cosatu and disturbing the cobwebs of dogma that have tangled up due process in the country’s largest labour federation. It comes in the form of the election of David Sipunzi as general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
Terry Bell
News | 15 June 2015
Human rights lawyers have been engaged for ten years in a bid to secure massive damages for former gold miners who suffer from silicosis and TB. As the case heads for the courts, the mining industry is scrambling to offer its own and much less comprehensive solution.
Pete Lewis
Analysis | 11 June 2015