Well-attended regional breakfast roadshows strengthen SEIFSA and member companies’ relations in a crucial negotiations year
Well-attended regional breakfast roadshows strengthen SEIFSA and member companies’ relations in a crucial negotiations year
As all employers in the sector know, 2017 is a crucial year for the metals and engineering sector. It is a year when negotiations on wages and conditions of employment will take place ahead of the expiry in June 2017 of the three-year Settlement Agreement reached in 2014.
The Federation has held several welcomed roadshows by way of breakfast sessions with member companies in which the SEIFSA team, including its executives, unpacked the wage negotiations and the State of the Metals and Engineering Sector Report 2017/2018.
“We have held regional roadshows on the East Rand, the West Rand, the Midrand area, Johannesburg and the Vaal Triangle to talk about the SEIFSA membership value proposition – and we have seen companies appreciate this outreach. Some of the roadshows have had in excess of 100 company representatives attend,” said SEIFSA CEO Kaizer Nyatsumba. The successful roadshows were in addition to meetings with leaders of companies regarding maintaining and sustaining relationships with them.
Industrial relations 2017
Industrial relations 2017
Even though it’s more than a month into the not so new year, it’s not too late to extend a warm welcome to 2017, albeit on the back of many challenges that 2016 had and with more ahead in 2017, we wish you the very best success in your endeavours and we would like to be there for you, to offer you support and assistance as best as we can.
In 2017 the industry wage negotiations take place and the challenge is on to secure a deal that meets the needs of the membership. We need to protect and grow this valuable industry which we are a part of, and that also means helping individual companies with difficulties that arise. We will endeavour to best represent your interests during this process, based upon the mandate from SEIFSA’s 25 Employer Associations. In addition we will keep you up to date with the latest and relevant happenings on industrial relations matters, including the negotiations, which will also include workshops to ensure that companies are prepared for any eventuality, such as managing industrial action.
But before we get to matters of wage negotiations, it is clear that there is often confusion between the Main Agreement and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
How do they differ?
Which employees are covered by which legislation?
What takes precedence, the Main Agreement or the Basic Conditions of Employment Aact?
What are the key components of each?
In response to these questions and more, SEIFSA has compiled a new training course named, The Main Agreement vs The BCEA, on 03 & 15 February (at SEIFSA and in Boksburg).
Another area that companies battle to manage effectively is, Authorised vs Unauthorised Absenteeism. Here one needs to identify what is authorised absenteeism and what is not. What is the appropriate action to take where leave is unauthorised and the employee does not have permission to be off. In addition and importantly, how does one correctly manage various types of leave, such as:
Sick Leave, when should an employee bring a sick note, what is a valid sick note and what about traditional healers?
Family responsibility leave, when is it applicable, how many days FRL do employees get and what proof can the company demand?
Maternity leave and the requirements there of.
What about other types of leave, compassionate leave, study leave, shop steward leave and annual leave, what does the law say on these.
Dealing with poor timekeeping and strategies to minimise poor timekeeping.
What should you do if an employee deserts, doing nothing leaves you vulnerable to an accusation of unfair dismissals
How does absenteeism and various types of leave taking during the year affect an employee’s annual leave calculation?
In order to assist companies on these matters, SEIFSA is offering a training course named, Managing Absenteeism and Sick Leave (Boksburg & SEIFSA) 02 & 16 March.
CHAIRING A DISCIPLINARY HEARING
Turning our attention to matters of exercising discipline in a fair and effective manner, including chairing disciplinary hearings, Seifsa is involved with many companies where we not only advise on disciplinary matters but also chair disciplinary hearings for companies.
Companies use SEIFSA for various reasons, such as:
Ensuring the hearing is done correctly, you need to ensure procedural and substantive fairness.
Dismissing people is often a function most would rather not do and so the option to use SEIFSA is an attractive one.
It ensures that the chairperson is impartial with no vested interest in the matter, besides it being done properly.
Ensuring that discipline is handled properly can be tricky, there are many things to consider, such as,
Is it necessary to have a disciplinary policy and code and should employees be aware of it before one starts disciplining?
What is admissible evidence?
If a conversation or meeting is recorded without the knowledge of the one of the parties that it is being recorded, (1) is it illegal to record without the consent of the other party? (2) Can the party that did the recording be charged criminally if found out? (3) And can this recording or a transcript thereof be used or permitted to be used as evidence at the CCMA?
In obtaining evidence from witnesses how best can one ensure that the witness does not change their evidence in the hearing?
May an employee use legal representation or the union official from the union office?
What does one do if an employee does not appear for their hearing, simply carrying on without them could lead to successful allegations of unfairness.
How does a plea of guilty impact upon the hearing?
How formal must a formal hearing be?
Can you follow a different procedure when issuing warnings and can the employee exercise the same rights as they would for a potential dismissal hearing?
An employee’s duty of good faith is put to a tough test when a fellow employee perpetrates misconduct. What does an employee do if he or she witnesses, or becomes aware of, such misconduct? May he or she remain silent? Not reporting the wrongdoer could be a breach of the duty of good faith. And what if the employer specifically asks witnesses to come forward? In that case could a refusal or failure to assist the employer cause serious damage to the relationship of trust.
How far does “the right to remain silent” extend? It may be raised by a defendant in criminal law, but does it mean anything in the employment relationship? How does it weigh up against the employee’s duty of good faith?
These and other interesting matters will be covered at SEIFSA’s, Fair and Effective Discipline and Conducting Watertight Dismissals, course on 24 February in Boksburg.
Looking at Job Grades, pay rates and the industry grading system, are you grading your employees correctly? It’s obviously important because if you don’t, you could be underpaying employees, and we know what issues that can cause. The Main Agreement has a grading system that is complex to the untrained, besides being a difficult exercise it is also a tedious one for most.
To assist in this area, SEIFSA has grading experts that can do the tedious for you, and do it correctly. On the 24th of March 2017 SEIFSA is offering a Training Course on Grading in Boksburg, where you will get input, an overview and clarity on these matters and meet SEIFSA’s grading expert, who you will of course be able to question endlessly.
To end off, we do wish you success in 2017 and we would want to assist where we can. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch, whether you need help over the phone, via email, consultation meetings or attending the workshops that we have planned.
Michael Lavendar
Industrial Relations Manager
Contact: Michael Lavender on 011 298 9415 or on michaelL@seifsa.co.za.
Artisans of the 21st century
Artisans of the 21st century
Demand-driven apprenticeships are a win-win in increasing the employment prospects of unemployed young people and closing the ever-increasing skills gap, but companies have to enable this process, writes Melanie Mulholland.
South Africa’s youth unemployment is at its lowest level for five years, but there are still major concerns about the long-term job prospects for the young. According to a new report issued by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), South Africa ranks sixth globally in terms of youth unemployment, with a current rate of 52.5%. Vocational interventions, like apprenticeships, are a much-needed solution for South Africa to prevent long-term negative impact.
Participating in apprenticeships is one of the many ways in which employers can acquire and develop the skills they need, while improving the employability of the younger generation.
Emplaoyers articulate their skills needs and identify skills mismatches in their respective sectors with the end game of job creation. Employers have to be in the driver’s seat throughout the entire process, from consultation through to trade test implementation, in order to create successful 21st-century artisans.
Such holistic engagement by companies would enable and support quality apprenticeship programmes that address pertinent skills gaps which need to be closed. At the same time, it would support a committed and productive workforce that can add value. This would open up a pool of skills and pathways for new talent into companies, occupations and sectors.
Many employers immediately understand the benefits of taking on apprentices and recover the costs of their investment as early as the second year of the duration of apprenticeships.
Apprenticeships focused on the 21st century consist of three components: a theoretical component, a practical (simulated) component and a workplace learning component. This is a dual apprenticeship model. This mode of delivery combines learning in the workplace with learning at a Technical Vocational and Education College (TVET) in an integrated programme. This programme is now being referred to as the Artisan of the 21st Century or A21 apprenticeship.
In order to deliver A21 programmes, the involvement of employers is a fundamental pre-requisite. As part of this training, an apprentice undergoes national trade testing at an accredited trade test centre after completion of required theory, practical and workplace training requirements, further certifying them for their skills.
While on qualification and recognition of learning, we need to be cognizant that South Africa has a history of placing a higher value on the academic pathway from school to university. In recent years, it has become more evident that this pathway does not fit everybody and, now more than ever, it is vital that as a country we develop high-quality vocational pathways that acquire the same respect that other educational choices receive. It is often a fact that qualified apprentices often earn more than their university counterparts.
Quality training is a unanimous trait that many employers from various sectors are demanding, especially in the manufacturing and engineering sectors. Businesses are overwhelmingly positive about 21st century apprenticeships and understand that work-based training can, indeed, boost much-needed skills and productivity – as well as the career prospects of young people. While the government is right to turn the spotlight on apprenticeships, I believe it is wrong to focus on numbers put through rather than the quality of apprenticeships.
South Africa’s target, according to the National Development Plan, is to deliver more than 30 000 additional artisans every year until 2024. This target has plenty of associated risks in undermining the combined efforts that are in place to increase the profile of apprenticeships. The focus on achieving this arbitrary figure would lead to a robotic model, where apprenticeships come out of a production line and yet quality suffers. This, in turn, would end up with apprenticeships continuing to be seen as an inferior alternative to attending universities and institutions of technology.
To add to this, apprenticeships are expensive. The best and perhaps only way to encourage companies to take on apprentices is to increase their quality and relevance to business. If the quality is there, then the demand, from both employers and potential apprentices, will naturally follow.
In order to increase the take-up among businesses, the government has to ensure that, when it comes to apprenticeships, the focus is on quality rather than quantity. Only then can we forge a credible alternative to the academic pathway, which businesses and young people can fully buy into.
In addition, at the moment TVETs and accredited training providers offer a network of support for apprentices. Without the right level of support, we risk seeing more young people dropping out of the system. We need to advocate an “earn-while-you-learn” incentive since skilled workers are increasingly in demand.
As part of meeting quality and completion numbers, the youth should not be disillusioned by the minimum requirements and technical aptitude tests. The system should ensure that the right attitude and skills for learning a trade are determined upfront in the recruitment and selection process and that the employer is assured the right candidate will become a 21st-century artisan.
The question, then, is: why should the youth choose an apprenticeship over an academic university pathway? It is evident, especially in manufacturing, that the economy desperately needs 21st-century artisans ranging from welders, electricians, plumbers, riggers, fitters to boilermakers, among many others.
Corporate South Africa, specifically the manufacturing and engineering sectors, have started addressing some of the real challenges around apprenticeships and artisan development to achieve quality artisans for the 21st century.
Without apprenticeships leading to quality artisans, our prospects for a growing economy and meeting the need to provide jobs for the millions of unemployed young people will remain depressing. Apprenticeships and skills are becoming very attractive because of their demand and the high likelihood of getting a job upon completion.
Melanie Mulholland is the Human Capital and Skills Development Executive at SEIFSA, which owns the SEIFSA Training Centre in Benoni.
The 4th industrial revolution is here
The 4th industrial revolution is here
The world is at the cusp of a hi-tech revolution that is profoundly altering the way we live and work. This revolution will permanently alter our fundamental perception of work, and most notably, our ability to trade time and skill for money. However, one thing is clear; the response to it must be integrated and comprehensive. And it must be now.
In 2015 the World Economic Forum (WEF) coined the phrase the Fourth Industrial Revolution for the sweeping changes technology is making to our world. That WEF report predicts that there are expected 7.1 million job losses over the next five years. This projection further erodes the already scarred South African labour landscape, with 27.1% of the population languishing in unemployment.
The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production. The Second used electric power to create mass production. The Third used electronics and information technology to automate production.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third. This digital revolution is characterized by a blending of technologies. The speed of current inventions has no historical precedent. It affects every industry. These changes herald the transformation of entire systems of production and, inevitably, management. There is now even talk of a Fifth Revolution.
Technological innovation will lead to long-term gains in efficiency and productivity. However, this revolution will yield greater inequality, particularly in its potential to disrupt labor markets. As automation substitutes for labor across the entire economy, the net displacement of workers by machines will stretch the gap between returns to capital and returns to labor. Karl Marx must be smiling in his grave.
Already, in 2012 Momentum Machines built a robot that can make, wrap and bag 360 individually customised hamburgers in an hour. Contrast that with one burger in 8 minutes by a team of McDonald’s human staff. This device is clearly not meant to make employees more efficient but to completely substitute them.
I am certain that talent, more than capital, will represent the critical factor of production. This will give rise to a dichotomy job market polarized into “low-skill/low-pay and high-skill/high-pay” spheres, as articulated by Professor Klaus Schwab, the Founder of the WEF. Surely, we will continue to see an increase in the demand for highly skilled workers and a decrease in the demand for workers with less education and lower skills. Talent management will be the key to survival for businesses, big or small.
The greatest challenge for institutions of higher learning in such a swiftly evolving social and economic environment is how to transfer knowledge and skills to students that will serve them long-term at a time when the pace of change is astounding. Suzanne Hattingh contends that, the world of work of 2020 and beyond will be significantly different from the workplace we know today. Therefore, it is crucial for business leaders to understand the major shifts to ensure that they have their skills planning and supporting strategies in place to survive the turbulence of this revolution.
Similarly, the government, the Sector Education and Training Authorities, training committees and other policy makers must rethink the skills strategies that are failing to prepare the workforce for the supersonic pace of change that is unsettling every industry and dictating every aspect of how we work and how we live. More than 35% of the skills considered important in today’s workforce will have changed within five years.
This calls for training institutions to remodel training if some occupations will significantly change or altogether disappear by the time students graduate. The current emphasis on test scores to determine a learner’s progress has, unfortunately gradually narrowed the definition of education. This has all along been based on the false assumption that if learners do well on standardised tests, then they are well educated. The world of work has demonstrated that this schooling is inadequate. Individuals are working in complex and high-pressure situations that call for more than literacy and simply mastery of facts or concepts.
Fixed job descriptions are becoming obsolete and employees will now be required to perform functions outside of their former job descriptions. New and agile companies, hatched by the digital economy, have led to a significant shift in recruitment, with hybrid skills taking precedence over academic credentials. In 2015 accountancy firm Ernst & Young announced that it will no longer consider degree results when assessing potential employees. One of the reasons for this change in policy is the firm’s belief that there is no correlation between success at university and success in careers. Such a policy evolution will ‘open up opportunities for talented individuals regardless of their background’.
We have heard a growing outcry on the quality of our artisans (and in other occupations) despite very impressive academic records. This puts in doubt the expected success of the National Artisan Development Strategy of 2030 where it will more likely be a project and numbers game than actual and relevant skills into the labour force.
This begs the question; are we training people for a world that no longer exists? Maybe the problem with our education system is that it is designed to produce ‘Industrial Age worker-citizens’. Unfortunately for this system we are now firmly rooted in a knowledge era and no longer need to memorise that knowledge but to do things with it. Perhaps we are at the inception of the #thesyllabusmustfall movement.
Knowledge is no longer an end in itself but rather a resource which should be used to create new knowledge. Henry Ford did not invent the automobile. Neither did he invent the assembly line. But more than any other single individual, he was responsible for transforming the automobile from an invention of unknown utility into an innovation that profoundly shaped the 20th century and continues to affect our lives even today. Driverless cars are taking this innovation race further.
The bottom line, however, is still the same: business leaders and senior executives need to understand their changing environment, challenge the assumptions of their operating teams, and relentlessly and continuously innovate. This revolution will present these leaders with many opportunities for those with the talent and imagination to capitalize on. If they cannot evolve, they will face increasing trouble. Today, in our volatile and digital world, there is unrecognized risk in not taking risks.
A hi-tech revolution is coming
A hi-tech revolution is coming
Credit: Yuriko Nakao Reuters
By Khanya Vilakazi
The world is on the cusp of a hi-tech revolution that is profoundly altering the way we live and work. This revolution will permanently alter our fundamental perception of work and, most notably, our ability to trade time and skill for money. However, one thing is clear: the response to this change must be integrated and comprehensive. And it must be now.
In 2015, the World Economic Forum (WEF) used the phrase the Fourth Industrial Revolution for the sweeping changes that are the result of technology. A report, by Professor Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the WEF, predicted that there are 7.1 million job losses expected over the next five years. This projection further erodes the already scarred South African labour landscape.
The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanise production. The Second used electric power to create mass production. The Third used electronics and information technology to automate production. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third. This digital revolution is characterised by a blending of technologies and affects every industry.
In terms of this trend, technological innovation will lead to long-term gains in efficiency and productivity. However, this revolution will yield greater inequality, particularly in its potential to disrupt labour markets. As automation substitutes for labour across the entire economy, the net displacement of workers by machines will stretch the gap between returns to capital and returns to labour.
Substitute workers
Already, in 2012 Momentum Machines built a robot that can make, wrap and bag 360 individually customised hamburgers in an hour. Contrast that with one burger in eight minutes by a team of McDonald’s human staff. This device is clearly not meant to make employees more efficient, but to substitute them completely, disrupting the job market altogether.
I am certain that talent, more than capital, will represent the critical factor of production. This will give rise to a dichotomy job market that is polarised into “low-skill/low-pay and high-skill/high-pay” spheres, as articulated by Professor Klaus Schwab. Talent management will be the key to survival for businesses, big or small.
The greatest challenge for institutions of higher learning in such a swiftly evolving social and economic environment is how to transfer knowledge and skills to students that will serve these institutions in the long-term when the pace of change is astounding.
The South African government, its Sector Education and Training Authorities, training committees and other policy makers must rethink the skills strategies that are failing to prepare the workforce for the supersonic pace of change that is unsettling every industry and dictating every aspect of how we work and how we live. More than 35 percent of the skills considered important in today's workforce will have changed within five years.
This calls for training institutions to remodel training if some occupations will significantly change or altogether disappear by the time the students graduate. Today's challenges demand mastery of facts or concepts.
At the same time, fixed-job descriptions are becoming obsolete and employees will now be required to perform functions outside of their former job descriptions.
We have heard a growing outcry about the quality of our artisans (and in other occupations), despite very impressive academic records. This, then, begs the question: are we training people for a world that no longer exists?
The Fourth Industrial Revolution affirms that knowledge is no longer an end in itself, but rather a resource which should be used to create new knowledge.
The bottom line, however, is still the same: business leaders and senior executives need to understand their changing environment, challenge the assumptions of their operating teams, and relentlessly and continuously innovate.
Today, in our volatile and digital world, there is unrecognised risk in not taking risks, especially to adapt to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and perhaps the Fifth one that may catch some organisation off guard.
Khanya Vilakazi is the Human Capital and Skills Development Manager at the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa.
This piece appear nationally in Business Report
State of the Metals and Engineering Industries Sector Report 2017/2018
State of the Metals and Engineering Industries Sector Report 2017/2018
Brilliant insights, diagnosis and forecast that will give you an informed perspective
SEIFSA brings you the State of the Metals and Engineering Sector 2017 to 2018 Report publication. This specialist sector economics outlook publication will provide you with an exclusive view on the sector from our Senior Economist, Tafadzwa Chibanguza.
For enquiries please contact Natalie Fourie on 011 298 9400 or email her on Natalie@seifsa.co.za
Cost: R1 500 excl VAT per copy
Profile of Tafadzwa (Taffie) Chibanguza
Tafadzwa (Taffie) Chibanguza is a Senior Economist at SEIFSA leading the Economics and Commercial Division. With a vast knowledge on the economy, and especially the metals and engineering sector, Tafadzwa consults companies on issues such profitability, modeling inflation cost prices and indices to help organisation remain sustainable.
He has also focused on price economics, international trade and supporting the industrial policy research. He holds a Bcom Economics and Econometrics degree from the University of Johannesburg, a Bcom (Honours) Degree in Economic Policy from the University of Witwatersrand, and a Master of Commerce Degree in Economic Policy from the University of Witwatersrand.
A win-win solution to unemployment
By Melanie Mulholland
Demand-driven apprenticeships are a win-win in increasing the employment prospects of unemployed young people and closing the ever-increasing skills gap, but companies have to enable this process.
South Africa’s youth unemployment is at its lowest level for five years, but there are still major concerns about the long-term job prospects for the young.
According to a new report issued by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), South Africa ranks sixth globally in terms of youth unemployment, with a rate of 52.5 percent. Vocational interventions, like apprenticeships, are a much-needed solution for South Africa to prevent a long-term negative impact.
Participating in apprenticeships is one of the many ways in which employers can acquire and develop the skills they need, while improving the employability of the younger generation.
Employers’ end game
Employers articulate their skills needs and identify skills mismatches in their respective sectors with the end game of job creation. Employers have to be in the driver’s seat throughout the entire process, from consultation through to trade test implementation, in order to create successful 21st-century artisans.
Such holistic engagement by companies would enable and support quality apprenticeship programmes that address pertinent skills gaps which need to be closed. At the same time, it would support a committed and productive workforce that can add value. This would open up a pool of skills and pathways for new talent into companies, occupations and sectors.
Many employers immediately understand the benefits of taking on apprentices and recover the costs of their investment as early as the second year of the duration of apprenticeships.
Apprenticeships focused on the 21st century consist of three components: a theoretical component, a practical (simulated) component and a workplace learning component. This is a dual apprenticeship model. This mode of delivery combines learning in the workplace with learning at a Technical Vocational and Education College (TVET) in an integrated programme. This programme is now being referred to as the Artisan of the 21st Century or A21 apprenticeship.
In order to deliver A21 programmes, the involvement of employers is a fundamental pre-requisite. As part of this training, an apprentice undergoes national trade testing at an accredited trade test centre after completion of required theory, practical and workplace training requirements, certifying them for their skills.
While on qualification and recognition of learning, we need to be cognisant that South Africa has a history of placing a higher value on the academic pathway from school to university. In recent years, it has become more evident that this pathway does not fit everybody and, now more than ever, it is vital that as a country we develop high-quality vocational pathways that acquire the same respect that other educational choices. It is often a fact that qualified apprentices often earn more than their university counterparts.
Quality training is a unanimous trait that many employers from various sectors are demanding, especially in the manufacturing and engineering sectors. Businesses are overwhelmingly positive about 21st century apprenticeships and understand that work-based training can, indeed, boost much-needed skills and productivity - as well as the career prospects of young people. While the government is right to turn the spotlight on apprenticeships, I believe it is wrong to focus on numbers put through rather than the quality of apprenticeships.
South Africa’s target, according to the National Development Plan, is to deliver more than 30000 additional artisans every year until 2024. This target has plenty of associated risks in undermining the combined efforts in place to increase the profile of apprenticeships. The focus on achieving this arbitrary figure would lead to a robotic model, where apprenticeships come out of a production line and quality suffers. This, in turn, would end up with apprenticeships continuing to be seen as an inferior alternative to attending universities and institutions of technology.
To add to this, apprenticeships are expensive. The best and perhaps only way to encourage companies to take on apprentices is to increase their quality and relevance to business. If the quality is there then demand, from employers and potential apprentices, will naturally follow.
In order to increase the take-up among businesses, the government has to ensure that, when it comes to apprenticeships, the focus is on quality rather than quantity. Only then can we forge a credible alternative to the academic pathway, which businesses and young people can fully buy into.
Read also: SA's unemployment figures paint gloomy picture
In addition, at the moment TVETs and accredited training providers offer a network of support for apprentices. Without the right level of support, we risk seeing more young people dropping out of the system. We need to advocate an “earn-while-you-learn” incentive since skilled workers are increasingly in demand.
As part of meeting quality and completion numbers, the youth should not be disillusioned by the minimum requirements and technical aptitude tests.
The system should ensure that the right attitude and skills for learning a trade are determined upfront in the recruitment and selection process and that the employer is assured the right candidate will become a 21st-century artisan.
Need for artisans
The question, then, is: why should the youth choose an apprenticeship over an academic university pathway? It is evident, especially in manufacturing, that the economy desperately needs 21st-century artisans ranging from welders, electricians, plumbers, riggers, fitters to boilermakers, among many others.
Corporate South Africa, specifically the manufacturing and engineering sectors, have started addressing some of the real challenges around apprenticeships and artisan development to achieve quality artisans for the 21st century.
Without apprenticeships leading to quality artisans, our prospects for a growing economy and meeting the need to provide jobs for the millions of unemployed young people will remain depressing.
Apprenticeships and skills are becoming very attractive because of their demand and the high likelihood of getting a job upon completion.
Melanie Mulholland is the Human Capital and Skills Development Executive at Seifsa, which owns the Seifsa Training Centre in Benoni.
SEIFSA Training Centre Awards a Great Success
SEIFSA Training Centre Awards a Great Success
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At the annual prize-giving ceremony, learners were inspired to dream big by an executive through a powerful visual life story.
It was a day of recognition of excellence on the 25th of November 2016 during the SEIFSA Training Centre Prize Giving ceremony. To much attention interjected with applause, guest speaker Rajen Govender, Human Resources Executive Director at Weir Minerals, motivated learners with his own life story, which started in Chatworth, KwaZulu-Natal, culminating with his interesting career.
Govender encouraged the learners to grasp all opportunities they encounter no matter how big or small and use these to not only develop, but to work towards their visions and make their success go beyond what they could have ever imagined. He inspired the learners through his own visual descriptions to dream big and get out there and make it happen.
The SEIFSA Training Centre Awards are trophies and prizes presented together with a certificate of achievement to the best student in a specific trade as well as to the learner with the best progress made. “The SEIFSA Training Centre wishes to congratulate these learners on their achievements as pockets of excellence within their trades and to the companies who afforded them the prospect of a career,” said Desmond Uithaler, SEIFSA Training Centre Operations Manager.
For more information please contact:
Desmond Uithaler
Operations Manager
011 422 2500
011 422 2503 (Fax)
desmond.uithaler@gijima.com
Update on Unemployment Insurance Amendment Act
Kindly be advised that the Unemployment Insurance Amendment Bill was passed in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on 22 November 2016. The Bill was discussed at Nedlac during 2013.
In summary, the Bill contains the following aspects:
- Increases UIF benefits from 238 to 365 days;
- Increases maternity leave benefits to 66% , which will no longer be deducted from the mother’s unemployment insurance benefit;
- Covers workers who lost working hours due to reduced time at their work places;
- Includes public servants under the UIF, who will thus be covered in the event of dismissal , and includes women who had miscarriages during the third trimester or a still- born birth;
- Allows the family and/ or nominated beneficiary of a deceased claimant to receive their benefits;
- Prohibits the charging of fees by any party (e.g. agency) to a UIF claimant for helping them submit their claims.
The process to pass this legislation is long overdue. SEIFSA is pleased with the adjustments to the structure of the UIF benefits, such as maternity leave improvements, longer claim periods for the unemployed, and fewer restrictions for beneficiaries to access unemployment insurance.
Kindly find the Unemployment Insurance Amendment Bill attached for your information.