Edgars gears up for job losses

Sowetan reports that the axe is about to fall on workers at Edgars.  Retail group Edcon last Thursday sent a circular to employees of Edgars telling them that the group's bottom line was under pressure and that the company had instituted steps to retrench staff.  Staff in Edcon's other subsidiaries, including Jet and Boardmans, will, for now, not be affected.  Edcon's Urin Ferdale said in the circular that over the last year the company had engaged in various initiatives valued at R61m to prevent job losses.  These included reduction in total travel and transport, communication expenses, rental and leasing charges.  He wrote that the job cut process will "result in a reduction of head count in the identified stores as per the approved staffing blueprints."  It is expected to last until 13 May.  Store managers and administration managers in all stores will survive the axe, as will "brand specialists, cellular sales and administration, cosmetics specialists, visual staff, and drivers, among others - will not be affected."  All other store-based staff will be affected, but numbers have not been confirmed..  The company has undertaken to consult with the SA Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers' Union (Saccawu) through a facilitated process at the CCMA.  

Strike-hit platinum producer Amplats warns of restructuring

Platinum producer Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) warned on Monday that a nearly month-long strike at its SA mines could lead to further restructuring, raising the spectre of more job losses.  The firm said its strike-hit Rustenburg and Union mines were "in the most marginal financial position" and that "if the industrial action continues for much longer, we cannot rule out the need for further restructuring to ensure the long term sustainability of those mines."  The company did not specify what measures could be taken, but before the current strike the company had already announced job cuts running into the thousands.  The firm claimed the strike over wages, which started on 23 January, was costing about R100m, or 4 000 ounces of platinum each day.  Workers are demanding the doubling of their monthly basic wages to R12,500.  Last year the company, which is 80% owned by Anglo American Corporation, embarked on a massive restructuring scheme that affected around 7,000 jobs, after initially eyeing double such cutbacks.  The firm later said it had reduced the retrenchments to 3,300, then announcing that the workers had instead been given voluntary separation packages.

• This report is at Fin24

Amendments to the Employment Equity Act Explained

RESIDENT ASSENTS TO THE AMENDMENTS TO THE EMPLOYMENT EQUITY ACT, 1998

By Lauren Salt, Associate, Employment, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr

On 14 January 2014, the President assented to the Employment Equity Amendment Act, No 47 of 2013, which was subsequently published in Notice R16 in Government Gazette No. 37238 on 16 January 2014.  While the Act has been assented to and published, it has not yet come into operation as the President is still required to determine a date on which this will occur.

The Employment Equity Amendment Act marks the first amendments to the Employment Equity Act, 55 of 1998 since it became effective in 1998.  The Amendment Act amends various sections of the principal act.  However, the following amendments are most noteworthy –

1  Amendment of the definition of "designated groups"

A revision of the definition of ‘‘designated groups’’ is proposed in order to ensure that beneficiaries of affirmative action in terms of Chapter III of the EEA are limited to persons who were citizens of South Africa before the democratic era, or would have been entitled to citizenship, but for the policies of apartheid, and their descendants.

This amendment will have the result that the employment of persons who are foreign nationals or who have become citizens after April 1994 will not assist employers to meet their affirmative action targets. This change is consistent with changes that are to be made to the Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment Act, 2003 (Act No. 53 of 2003).

2  Amendment of section 6 – Expansion of Discriminatory Grounds

The amendment to section 6(1) seeks to clarify that discrimination is not only permitted on a ground listed in that section, but also on any other arbitrary ground. This change, however, creates consistency with the terminology used in section 187(1)(f) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (Act No. 66 of 1995), that prohibits discriminatory dismissals.

3  Insertion of new sections 6(4) and 6(5) – Work of Equal Value

A new section 6(4) has been introduced in order to deal explicitly with unfair discrimination by an employer in respect of the terms and conditions of employment of employees doing the same or similar work or work of equal value.  A differentiation based on a proscribed ground listed in section 6(1) or any other arbitrary ground will amount to unfair discrimination unless the employer can show that differences in wages or other conditions of employment are in fact based on fair criteria such as experience, skill, responsibility and the like.

In terms of section 6(5), the Minister of Labour will be empowered to publish a code of good practice dealing with criteria and methodologies for assessing work of equal value.

4  Amendment of section 10 - Jurisdiction of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration

Under the Principal Act, all unfair discrimination claims fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Labour Court.  However, the Amendment Act amends section 10(6) to allow parties to the dispute the option of referring the dispute for arbitration in the CCMA under the following circumstances:

(a) an employee may refer the dispute to the CCMA for arbitration if the employee’s cause of action arises from an allegation of unfair discrimination on the grounds of sexual harassment;

(b) lower-paid employees (those earning less than the earnings threshold prescribed under section 6(3) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1997 (Act No. 75 of 1997)), will be entitled to refer any discrimination claim to the CCMA for arbitration;

(c) any party to the dispute may refer the dispute to the CCMA for arbitration if all the parties to the dispute consent thereto.

However, the maximum award that the CCMA can make in respect of damages will be an amount equal to the earnings threshold referred to above. A person affected by an arbitrator’s award in a discrimination case will be entitled to appeal to the Labour Court.

5  Amendment of sections 59 and 61 and Schedule 1 - Penalties

The Amendment Act increases the maximum fines that can be imposed for criminal offences contemplated in sections 59 and 61 from R 10 000 to R 30 000.  In addition, it is proposed that the Minister should be empowered to adjust those fines in order to counter inflation, without the concurrence of the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development.

An employer’s turnover may be taken into account in determining the maximum fine that may be imposed for substantive failures to comply with the EEA.

6  Amendment of Schedule 4 – Total Annual Turnover Threshold

The EEAA increases the total annual turnover threshold that an employer must exceed in order to be classified as a designated employer.

This means that some employers that were obliged to comply by virtue of their turnover will no longer have to do so. Employers that employ 50 or more employees will still be regarded as ‘designated employers’ irrespective of their turnover.

Employers are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the changes to the Employment Equity Act. In addition, employers should ensure compliance with the amendments to avoid the hefty penalties in place.  The Department of Labour has indicated that they are going to clamp down on enforcement of the provisions of the Act, which should be incentive enough for employers to start getting their proverbial ducks in a row, while the President determines the date on which the amendments will come into effect.

To download the amendment Gazette – click this link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7uh7gvxjc7jjd90/EEA%20Amendment%202014.pdf

Cosatu criticises increase in minimum wage for farm workers

The Department of Labour's minimum wage increase of 75 cents per hour for farm workers was still far from meeting workers' demands, labour federation Cosatu said on Tuesday.  "This latest increase needs to be seen as just another small step in the march towards an acceptable income for farm workers," spokesman Patrick Craven said in a statement.  "This is still far from meeting the farm workers' demand during the 2012 strikes for a minimum wage of R150 per day (R4562.50 a month), which remains a justifiable target," Craven stated.  The department indicated on Monday that farm workers would earn a minimum hourly rate of R12.41 from 1 March 2014.  Craven said a 2013 Employment Conditions Commission report, commissioned from the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy, stated: "Even at a much higher wage of R150 (a day), large numbers of farm workers' households would not have a sufficient income to meet their basic need".