From the Chief Executive Officer’s Desk - May To June 2017
The past few months have been very hectic for the SEIFSA team, especially for Operations Director Lucio Trentini, Chief Financial Officer Rajendra Rajcoomar and myself. Supported by a great team led by Associations Manager Theresa Crowley, we have been involved in a series of meetings with General Managers, Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers of companies that were members of the South African Engineers and Founders Association (SAEFA).
Although these engagements began some months ago, they have accelerated since 1 December 2016 when we were informed by the Chairman of that Association that, at its Special General Meeting a day earlier, SAEFA had decided to resign from the 74-year-old Federation. In addition to these meetings with leaders of companies that are/were members of that Association, we have also 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 to ask companies to remain within the SEIFSA family.
At the time of writing, colleagues and I were still in the middle of this process. However, we have been very well received by the companies with which we have held meetings so far and our regional roadshows have been well attended. Indeed, the number of former SAEFA member companies that have switched to other SEIFSA-affiliated Associations collectively employ by far the majority of the employees working for companies that were members of SAEFA before the unfortunate 30 November 2016 de-federation decision.
Given the importance of this matter not only to the companies concerned, but also to the entire SEIFSA family and, indeed, the metals and engineering sector, I have decided to deal comprehensively with the SAEFA resignation in my column in this issue of SEIFSA News. I do so in the form of a question-and-answer interview for the benefit of any interested stakeholders and, indeed, those companies that have yet to make the decision to remain affiliated to an Association that continues to be part of the SEIFSA family.
Why did SAEFA resign from SEIFSA?
For some time now, the Association has not been aligned with SEIFSA and its member Associations on a number of issues. These include approaches on the position of the financially-challenged Metals and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council and extension of collective agreements to non-parties, among others. The SEIFSA constituency regards the MEIBC as an important institution whose survival is vital for industrial stability in the sector, and believes that ideally collective agreements reached by the majority of parties in negotiations should be extended to non-parties, while SAEFA holds different views on these issues.
Were the disagreements of such a nature that they could not have been solved?
To the end, we believed strongly that a way could be found to ensure alignment between the SAEFA leadership and SEIFSA. After all, for many years SAEFA was one of the most loyal members and ardent supporters of the Federation. Things started to change when the current leadership of SAEFA was elected two years ago. Regrettably, despite numerous efforts by the SEIFSA Executive Team and the Board to resolve differences with the Association, in the end some in the SAEFA leadership campaigned actively and aggressively for the Association to resign from SEIFSA, South Africa’s oldest and largest employer representative in the metals and engineering sector.
We understand that the SAEFA leadership has been critical about the way in which SEIFSA has been led and has alleged that the organisation has failed to implement mandates from its members. How do you respond?
Yes, some in the top leadership of SAEFA have, indeed, made a series of unfounded allegations against SEIFSA and have been very reluctant to accept incontrovertible facts that disprove their allegations. It is important to note that these allegations have been made by some individuals, and not by the entire Association or all of those in its leadership, and that they are both malicious and baseless.
For the record, SEIFSA is strictly a mandate-driven organization. The Federation derives its mandates from its members, which meet in an assembly of Associations called the SEIFSA Council, to debate matters and agree on a common position that becomes the Federation’s mandate. This has always been the way in which the Federation has operated. When there is no unanimity among member Associations on any matter, the majority position adopted at the SEIFSA Council becomes SEIFSA’s mandate on that matter.
SAEFA has also alleged that SEIFSA has not been as virulently outspoken as NEASA against the unions and the Government. How do you respond?
For a start, unlike others, SEIFSA does not consider the Government and labour as enemies. Instead, we view them as important stakeholders with whom we have to work cooperatively to advance the interests of our sector and to grow the country’s economy. Where we disagree with either stakeholder group, we say so boldly, and when we agree with them on any matter, we work with them as enthusiastic partners.
Secondly, SEIFSA is a federation representing employers throughout the broad metals and engineering value chain. These range from primary steel producers through to metal fabricators, and from small companies employing anything up to 50 people to large, listed or multi-national companies in different sub-sectors of the metals and engineering sector with thousands of employees. Given this vast and diverse constituency, SEIFSA does not easily and readily make public pronouncements on matters in a manner that organisations representing only employers of a particular kind can or do. When it makes public pronouncements, SEIFSA endeavours to represent the views of all – or most – of its constituency. That calls for great circumspection, which is not the case with the organization to which we are being unfairly compared.
How will SAEFA’s resignation affect SEIFSA?
Unfortunately, SAEFA’s resignation weakens the Federation at a time when greater unity of purpose is required among employers to solve the challenges that confront the sector, including the welfare of the MEIBC and the 2017 negotiations on wages and conditions of employment. To that extent, the resignation affects SEIFSA.
However, the Federation still represents 25 loyal employer Associations, which collectively employ the majority of factory workers (in excess of 150 000) in the metals and engineering sector. It remains the authoritative voice of employers in the sector, represents them in collective bargaining and lobbies on their behalf. It remains the only employer representative in the sector with healthy relations with all stakeholders, including labour and the Government, and believes firmly that it will take a solid partnership among Government, business and labour to get South Africa to realize its economic potential.
How many companies are members of SAEFA (and are all of them lost to SEIFSA)?
Just over 500 companies were members of SAEFA. Many of them were unhappy with the decision taken by the Association’s leadership and have since resigned from the Association because they want to remain part of SEIFSA. We expect many more to do so in the weeks and months to come. These companies are joining some of the existing SEIFSA-affiliated Associations, while others are planning to form new Associations that will be affiliated with SEIFSA. We expect at least 300 of these companies (60%) to continue to be part of the SEIFSA family. Collectively, these companies employ by far the vast majority of employees within that Association.
Many companies want to remain within SEIFSA for many reasons, apart from the fact that most of them have had a strong, productive association with the Federation over the years (in the case of some companies, for longer than 50 years). They know that, unlike any other employer organization in the sector, SEIFSA has unequalled experience in collective bargaining, employs qualified and experienced subject-matter experts in a number of Divisions (e.g. Economics and Commercial; Industrial Relations and Legal Services; Human Capital and Skills Development; Safety, Health, Environment and Quality, etc.) and offers a series of important products and services (like the unique SEIFSA Prices and Index Pages) which they access at a discounted price.
Will SEIFSA and SAEFA adopt adversarial positions in the 2017 Negotiations on Wages and Conditions of Employment?
SEIFSA’s philosophy is to work constructively and cooperatively with all stakeholders, whether they be fellow employer organisations or labour unions. That will continue to be our approach not only to the 2017 Negotiations, but to all other matters in which we are involved. We may have differences with the current leadership of SAEFA, but we do not see them or their Association as an enemy. Our approach to these matters is professional, and not personal. We will work with all employer parties within the MEIBC when we are in agreement on issues, as we have always done, and we will advance SEIFSA’s views and interests when there is no agreement with fellow employer parties.
What would you say are the main differences between SEIFSA and SAEFA?
We are comfortable to talk about what we (SEIFSA) stand for, and not so much what others stand for. Fundamentally, SEIFSA believes in:
working closely with our member Associations to further their interests;
effective lobbying of (or with) stakeholders (Government, business and labour) to advance the interests of our members;
constructive collective bargaining which results in a win-win outcome that leads to an internationally competitive metals and engineering sector that can preserve – and even create – jobs;
working with labour, as partners, to solve the challenges which confront the sector, including its non-competitiveness, and to lobby policy makers together in the interest of the sector; and
a solid, collaborative partnership among Government, business and labour.
Kaizer M. Nyatsumba
Chief Executive Officer
Getting Ready For The 2017 Wage Negotiations
Greetings – and welcome to the first issue of the 2017 Wage Negotiations Update.
This Update will be distributed regularly throughout the 2017 negotiations on wages and conditions of employment and posted on our website (www.seifsa.co.za) in order to ensure that all companies that are members of Associations affiliated to SEIFSA are kept fully informed of developments during the negotiations. Although companies are members of our affiliated Associations and indirect members of the Federation, for ease of reference we will refer to such companies as SEIFSA member companies in this newsletter.
The 2017 wage negotiations are almost upon us. The main union in our sector, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), will be holding its Collective Bargaining Mandating Conference on 24-25 April 2017. We understand that the other unions have also been involved in similar processes. We expect to receive labour’s list of demands for the negotiations soon thereafter.
The SEIFSA Office operates strictly in accordance with mandates derived from the SEIFSA Council. The latter is an assembly of the 25 Associations that are members of SEIFSA, which brings the member Associations together to debate matters among themselves and develop a mandate for the Federation. Our responsibility is then to implement the mandate/s coming from our constituency, through the SEIFSA Council.
In preparation for the forthcoming negotiations, we have scheduled a Special SEIFSA Council Meeting for this afternoon (18 April 2017). At that meeting, member Associations will begin to formulate our mandate for the 2017 Wage Negotiations.
How can you get involved?
As member companies, your active involvement in preparations for the negotiations and throughout the process is paramount. We implore you to make your voices heard within your respective Associations. That way you will ensure that, when your Associations come to SEIFSA Council Meetings for mandating discussions, they do so informed by your companies’ views, among others.
Should you wish to establish which Association your company belongs to or when its meetings are scheduled, please contact either Associations Manager Theresa Crowley (theresa@seifsa.co.za) or Operations Director Lucio Trentini (lucio@seifsa.co.za).
We look forward to your active involvement and support throughout the 2017 wage negotiations process. We hope that we will be able to conclude matters without any industrial action.
Kaizer Nyatsumba
Chief Executive Officer
Direct | Tel: 011 298 9403 | Fax: 011 298 9503 | Cell: 072 177 8197 |
E-mail: kaizer@seifsa.co.za
Head Office | Tel: 011 298 9400 or 0861 SEIFSA | Fax: 011 298 9500
Entries For Prestigious SEIFSA Awards For Excellence Close
ENTRIES FOR PRESTIGIOUS SEIFSA AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE CLOSE
JOHANNESBURG, 12 MARCH 2017 – The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa’s (SEIFSA’s) search for top-performing companies in the Southern African metals and engineering sector in 2016 is fast drawing to an end.
Entries close at mid-night tomorrow, after having opened late last year.
“We encourage all companies in the metals and engineering industries that have not yet entered their company for one or more of these awards to do so before midnight on 13 April 2017,” said Kaizer Nyatsumba, SEIFSA CEO.
The Federation, which launched the SEIFSA Awards for Excellence in 2015, has persistently invited manufacturers operating in the metals and engineering sector within the Southern African region to submit their entries for the 2017 Awards. The entries are for companies that will be assessed on their performance in the period 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016.
Winners of the 2017 SEIFSA Awards for Excellence will be honoured at a prestigious ceremony that will take place at the IDC Conference Centre in Sandton on 25 May 2017.
Born out of the need to encourage growth and celebrate excellence in the metals and engineering sector, the SEIFSA Awards for Excellence offer a great opportunity for companies operating in this vital sector to receive well-deserved recognition by industry peers for their capabilities, expertise and innovation.
Mr Nyatsumba said although the metals and engineering sector was facing many challenges and uncertainty, there were companies that still managed to excel under these difficult circumstances.
“It is during crisis times that innovation and sustainability become paramount. We have seen companies that have managed to excel and retain operations in the sector, in the process not only saving jobs, but also ensuring that the industry still provides its goods and services,” he said.
Mr Nyatsumba said these companies need to be highlighted and celebrated so that it is demonstrated that there are other ways to keep the sector going until the crisis period lapses.
The SEIFSA Awards for Excellence have seven different categories:
- The Most Innovative Company of the Year, which will be awarded to a company which showed the highest level of innovation in research and development or production in 2016;
- The Health and Safety Award of the Year will be offered to a company with the best legal compliance record in Health and Safety or the lowest Lost-Time Injury Frequency Rate in 2016;
- Entries are also invited from companies whose Corporate Social Investment (CSI) programme/s in 2016 had a major impact on the lives of their beneficiaries;
- Companies rated the highest in customer service performance in 2016 will receive the Customer Service Award of the Year;
- The Most Transformed Company of the Year Award will go to a company that showed the highest transformation level in the composition of its Board of Directors, Executive Management and Managerial Team in 2016 (this award category pits companies employing fewer than 100 people against those of similar size, and companies employing more than 100 companies against others of similar size);
This is the Decade of the Artisan, and an award will be made to the company that trained the highest number of artisans in 2016; and
- The Environment Stewardship Award will go to a company that has made the biggest or best strides towards conserving the environment or mitigating the impact of its operations on the environment in 2016.
Mr Nyatsumba has encouraged companies in the sector to submit their entries for the seven categories before midnight on 13 April. The Awards are open to both SEIFSA members and non-members.
Scaw Metals, ABB Group, Hazelton Pumps International and Voith Turbo were among the winners last year.
For more information or to enter for any of these categories for the awards, please contact our Sales and Communications Manager Ms Nuraan Alli on
011 298 9400 or 083 415 2780 or can email her on nuraan@seifsa.co.za. You may also visit our awards website at www.seifsaawards.co.za
HCSD Inhouse Training
The following workshops can be run in-house and customised to meet company needs:
- Training Committee Training
- Skills Development Update
- Supervisory Training
- Supervisory Workshop: Problem Solving for Supervisors
- Performance Management
- Needs Analysis and Skills Audits
- Change Management
- Talent Management and Succession Planning
SEIFSA’s HC&SD team can conduct in-house training:
Interactive Skills Development/ Training Committee Training to gain a clear understanding of all the relevant applicable legislation and more specifically the roles and responsibilities of Training Committee Members. This workshop enables committee members to become more effective and efficient in supporting the company’s Skills Development objectives as well as advancing consultation regarding the submissions of the Workplace Skills Plan, Annual Training Report, PIVOTAL Plan and PIVOTAL Training Report to the relevant SETA.
Employment Equity Committee Training for nominated representatives to comprehend their roles and responsibilities as members of the Employment Equity/Transformation Committee with specific regards to the requirements of the Act, Codes of Good Practice and includes and outline for the compilation of an annual plan and report, ensuring that targets and goals are aligned to Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment and Skills Development requirements.
PROFILE
MELANIE MULHOLLAND
HUMAN CAPITAL AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT EXECUTIVE
melanie@seifsa.co.za
Melanie Mulholland joined SEIFSA in 2010 and is the Human Capital and Skills Development Executive. She is an extremely passionate and dedicated human capital and skills development professional with more than 20 years' experience in training and development.
She is a registered HR Professional with SABPP and with ASDSA. Melanie holds a BA Degree in Human and Social Sciences. She also has a higher certificate – Leadership Development Programme from GIBS as well as numerous professional training qualifications.
MICHELLE NORRIS
HUMAN CAPITAL AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
michelle@seifsa.co.za
Michelle Norris is the Human Capital and Skills Development Manager at SEIFSA. Michelle is an extreme motivator a natural team builder facilitator and transformation leader. She is customer centric and a person driven by passion, excellence, tenacity and outcomes. She is a human capital Professional with 14 years’ experience in Human Capital and Skills Development on Management level. She has ten years’ experience within the Metal and Engineering industry. Michelle holds a B Comm in Human Resources a Post Graduate Diploma in Labour Law. She has previous experience in Investment Finance. Michelle also holds various accredited certificates within her field of expertise.
MORE INFORMATION
Visit our website on www.seifsa.co.za or call Michelle Morris (011) 298-9425 or michelle@seifsa.co.za
for tailor-made in-house training or consulting
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.
From the Chief Executive Officer’s Desk - March To April 2017
The past few months have been very hectic for the SEIFSA team, especially for Operations Director Lucio Trentini, Chief Financial Officer Rajendra Rajcoomar and myself. Supported by a great team led by Associations Manager Theresa Crowley, we have been involved in a series of meetings with General Managers, Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers of companies that were members of the South African Engineers and Founders Association (SAEFA).
Although these engagements began some months ago, they have accelerated since 1 December 2016 when we were informed by the Chairman of that Association that, at its Special General Meeting a day earlier, SAEFA had decided to resign from the 74-year-old Federation. In addition to these meetings with leaders of companies that are/were members of that Association, we have also 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 to ask companies to remain within the SEIFSA family.
At the time of writing, colleagues and I were still in the middle of this process. However, we have been very well received by the companies with which we have held meetings so far and our regional roadshows have been well attended. Indeed, the number of former SAEFA member companies that have switched to other SEIFSA-affiliated Associations collectively employ by far the majority of the employees working for companies that were members of SAEFA before the unfortunate 30 November 2016 de-federation decision.
Given the importance of this matter not only to the companies concerned, but also to the entire SEIFSA family and, indeed, the metals and engineering sector, I have decided to deal comprehensively with the SAEFA resignation in my column in this issue of SEIFSA News. I do so in the form of a question-and-answer interview for the benefit of any interested stakeholders and, indeed, those companies that have yet to make the decision to remain affiliated to an Association that continues to be part of the SEIFSA family.
Why did SAEFA resign from SEIFSA?
For some time now, the Association has not been aligned with SEIFSA and its member Associations on a number of issues. These include approaches on the position of the financially-challenged Metals and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council and extension of collective agreements to non-parties, among others. The SEIFSA constituency regards the MEIBC as an important institution whose survival is vital for industrial stability in the sector, and believes that ideally collective agreements reached by the majority of parties in negotiations should be extended to non-parties, while SAEFA holds different views on these issues.
Were the disagreements of such a nature that they could not have been solved?
To the end, we believed strongly that a way could be found to ensure alignment between the SAEFA leadership and SEIFSA. After all, for many years SAEFA was one of the most loyal members and ardent supporters of the Federation. Things started to change when the current leadership of SAEFA was elected two years ago. Regrettably, despite numerous efforts by the SEIFSA Executive Team and the Board to resolve differences with the Association, in the end some in the SAEFA leadership campaigned actively and aggressively for the Association to resign from SEIFSA, South Africa’s oldest and largest employer representative in the metals and engineering sector.
We understand that the SAEFA leadership has been critical about the way in which SEIFSA has been led and has alleged that the organisation has failed to implement mandates from its members. How do you respond?
Yes, some in the top leadership of SAEFA have, indeed, made a series of unfounded allegations against SEIFSA and have been very reluctant to accept incontrovertible facts that disprove their allegations. It is important to note that these allegations have been made by some individuals, and not by the entire Association or all of those in its leadership, and that they are both malicious and baseless.
For the record, SEIFSA is strictly a mandate-driven organization. The Federation derives its mandates from its members, which meet in an assembly of Associations called the SEIFSA Council, to debate matters and agree on a common position that becomes the Federation’s mandate. This has always been the way in which the Federation has operated. When there is no unanimity among member Associations on any matter, the majority position adopted at the SEIFSA Council becomes SEIFSA’s mandate on that matter.
SAEFA has also alleged that SEIFSA has not been as virulently outspoken as NEASA against the unions and the Government. How do you respond?
For a start, unlike others, SEIFSA does not consider the Government and labour as enemies. Instead, we view them as important stakeholders with whom we have to work cooperatively to advance the interests of our sector and to grow the country’s economy. Where we disagree with either stakeholder group, we say so boldly, and when we agree with them on any matter, we work with them as enthusiastic partners.
Secondly, SEIFSA is a federation representing employers throughout the broad metals and engineering value chain. These range from primary steel producers through to metal fabricators, and from small companies employing anything up to 50 people to large, listed or multi-national companies in different sub-sectors of the metals and engineering sector with thousands of employees. Given this vast and diverse constituency, SEIFSA does not easily and readily make public pronouncements on matters in a manner that organisations representing only employers of a particular kind can or do. When it makes public pronouncements, SEIFSA endeavours to represent the views of all – or most – of its constituency. That calls for great circumspection, which is not the case with the organization to which we are being unfairly compared.
How will SAEFA’s resignation affect SEIFSA?
Unfortunately, SAEFA’s resignation weakens the Federation at a time when greater unity of purpose is required among employers to solve the challenges that confront the sector, including the welfare of the MEIBC and the 2017 negotiations on wages and conditions of employment. To that extent, the resignation affects SEIFSA.
However, the Federation still represents 25 loyal employer Associations, which collectively employ the majority of factory workers (in excess of 150 000) in the metals and engineering sector. It remains the authoritative voice of employers in the sector, represents them in collective bargaining and lobbies on their behalf. It remains the only employer representative in the sector with healthy relations with all stakeholders, including labour and the Government, and believes firmly that it will take a solid partnership among Government, business and labour to get South Africa to realize its economic potential.
How many companies are members of SAEFA (and are all of them lost to SEIFSA)?
Just over 500 companies were members of SAEFA. Many of them were unhappy with the decision taken by the Association’s leadership and have since resigned from the Association because they want to remain part of SEIFSA. We expect many more to do so in the weeks and months to come. These companies are joining some of the existing SEIFSA-affiliated Associations, while others are planning to form new Associations that will be affiliated with SEIFSA. We expect at least 300 of these companies (60%) to continue to be part of the SEIFSA family. Collectively, these companies employ by far the vast majority of employees within that Association.
Many companies want to remain within SEIFSA for many reasons, apart from the fact that most of them have had a strong, productive association with the Federation over the years (in the case of some companies, for longer than 50 years). They know that, unlike any other employer organization in the sector, SEIFSA has unequalled experience in collective bargaining, employs qualified and experienced subject-matter experts in a number of Divisions (e.g. Economics and Commercial; Industrial Relations and Legal Services; Human Capital and Skills Development; Safety, Health, Environment and Quality, etc.) and offers a series of important products and services (like the unique SEIFSA Prices and Index Pages) which they access at a discounted price.
Will SEIFSA and SAEFA adopt adversarial positions in the 2017 Negotiations on Wages and Conditions of Employment?
SEIFSA’s philosophy is to work constructively and cooperatively with all stakeholders, whether they be fellow employer organisations or labour unions. That will continue to be our approach not only to the 2017 Negotiations, but to all other matters in which we are involved. We may have differences with the current leadership of SAEFA, but we do not see them or their Association as an enemy. Our approach to these matters is professional, and not personal. We will work with all employer parties within the MEIBC when we are in agreement on issues, as we have always done, and we will advance SEIFSA’s views and interests when there is no agreement with fellow employer parties.
What would you say are the main differences between SEIFSA and SAEFA?
We are comfortable to talk about what we (SEIFSA) stand for, and not so much what others stand for. Fundamentally, SEIFSA believes in:
working closely with our member Associations to further their interests;
effective lobbying of (or with) stakeholders (Government, business and labour) to advance the interests of our members;
constructive collective bargaining which results in a win-win outcome that leads to an internationally competitive metals and engineering sector that can preserve – and even create – jobs;
working with labour, as partners, to solve the challenges which confront the sector, including its non-competitiveness, and to lobby policy makers together in the interest of the sector; and
a solid, collaborative partnership among Government, business and labour.
Kaizer M. Nyatsumba
Chief Executive Officer
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.
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.
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.
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