Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

Occupational Health Safety Act

latest news & developments
If South Africa truly values the principles of dignity, equality and social justice on which its democracy was founded, then it must ensure that the very people who carried communities through crises are not left behind in the pursuit of reform.
CORONAVIRUS

Invisible threat to workers’ rights

Nearly half of all workplaces inspected by the department of labour found to be unsafe

  • Sarah Smit
5 min read
According to Statistics South Africa’s most recent quarterly labour force survey, there were almost three million workers in the informal sector at the end of 2019. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
CCMA

Covid-19: ‘Unemployment benefits will not be extended to the informal sector’

Almost three million workers are not covered by measures implemented by the department of employment and labour to lessen the economic effects of the coronavirus

  • Sarah Smit
3 min read
Excluded: United States President Donald Trump signs an emergency coronavirus spending Bill, but it will not protect millions of workers in that country. (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
BHEKI NTSHALINTSHALI

‘Worker safety nets inadequate’

With large-scale job losses on the horizon here and around the world, the Covid- 19 pandemic has put the vulnerability of workers in sharp focus

  • Sarah Smit
4 min read
The memorandum was signed by Infrastructure in South Africa, an entity of the department of public works and infrastructure; the national treasury; and the Development Bank of Southern Africa. (Madelene Cronjé/M&G)
CONGRESS OF SOUTH AFRICAN TRADE UNIONS

‘Protect your workers’ against coronavirus

The labour department has called on employers to implement measures to minimise threat of Covid-19 to South Africa’s workforce

  • Sarah Smit
2 min read