Tag: International Labour Organisation (ILO)
Adapting workplaces to climate change
South Africa's scorching summers are becoming the norm, not the exception. This changing climate is not just a weather inconvenience, but a growing threat to worker safety. To address the possible health and safety risks associated with climate change (such as heatstroke in construction or injuries during floods), health and safety committees and officers should consider incorporating climate-related hazard indicators and assess the hazard-specific vulnerability of workers, workflows, and their environments.
The destructive minimum wage legislation must be repealed
According to Statistics South Africa, the SA unemployment rate in the third Quarter (Q3) of 2023 was 41.2% (7.8 million people). In addition, youth unemployment (ages 15 to 34 years) in Q3 was 4.6 million, out of a total of 12.4 million unemployed people in the country. The total population is 61.02 million.
What legal protection is there for breastfeeding mothers at work?
Breast milk has long been acknowledged as nature’s perfect food for infants. Its unique properties continue to benefit children long after their mothers have stopped breastfeeding. For working women, breastfeeding is easy and convenient to do while they are on maternity leave, but it becomes significantly more challenging when they return to work.
Are unemployed South Africans the victims of unfair labour laws?
If jobseekers in South Africa currently had the right to freely enter voluntary contracts with employers at wages and on conditions acceptable to both parties, the country would not have mass unemployment. Figures recently released by Statistics SA confirm the statement by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) that at 29.8 percent South Africa had the highest unemployment rate in the world. At 4.9 percent the USA had the lowest rate.
New harassment code will require employers to overhaul existing policies
A new Code of Good Practice on the Prevention and Elimination of Harassment in the Workplace has become effective. The new code will require a total overhaul of sexual harassment and harassment policies that employers currently have in place as well as how these policies are implemented.
Ending violence in the workplace must become a global priority
As we joined hands with the rest of the world to commemorate International Women’s Day in the spirit of ‘Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow’, it is imperative to ensure that more is done to end the debilitating impact of ongoing gender-based violence and femicide in the workplace.
SA ranks 84th among 165 jurisdictions in economic freedom
South Africa ranks 84th out of 165 countries and territories included in the Economic Freedom of the World: 2021 Annual Report, that we have released in conjunction with Canada’s Fraser Institute. In 2000, South Africa ranked 58th on the list of countries analysed.
International Equal Pay Day – Women must be paid their worth
The gender pay gap is holding back African economies from unlocking their true potential. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in widespread job losses globally, disproportionately affecting women more than men. It is more urgent that ever to address the lack of gender equality on the African continent across all spheres of society.
Draft code of practice on workplace violence and harassment published
The Minister of Employment and Labour has published for comment a Draft Code of Practice on the Prevention and Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of Work (Code). The Code applies to all sectors (both public and private) in the formal and informal economy.
Humanity needs a dramatic paradigm shift
COVID-19 is simply a symptom of a deadlier underlying issue: our dominant belief that humanity is separate from and above the natural world. This pandemic was predicted in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, in which a 2007 article explicitly referred to the likelihood of further SARS-like viruses linked to the culture of eating exotic mammals in Southern China.