Labour

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

Union in dire financial position after Constitutional Court dismisses appeal

The Constitutional Court dismissed the Commercial, Stevedoring, Agricultural & Allied Workers Union (CSAAWU)’s plea to overturn a cost order by the Labour Court amounting to R600,000 in legal fees.

Mariska Morris

News | 17 August 2015

Mining people for profits

Large scale redundancies in the South African mining sector, running to tens of thousands of jobs, are probably inevitable. But only because of the system in which we have to operate.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 17 August 2015

Marikana: reminders of a massacre

Three years ago on this day, the police shot dead 34 miners at Marikana. Here are some of the articles we've published since then that, sadly, remain current and relevant.

GroundUp Staff

Analysis | 16 August 2015

Spar workers dismissed after strike for longer hours

About 20 workers have been dismissed at the Philippi Plaza Mall Spar following a strike they embarked on in June.

Siphesihle Matyila

News | 6 August 2015