by admin | Nov 18, 2022 | NEWSROOM
“Women’s Socio-Economic Rights and Empowerment: Building Back Better for Women’s Improved Resilience.”
Every year, in August, our country marks Women’s Month. We also pay tribute to the more than 20 000 women who marched to the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956 in protest against the extension of Pass Laws to women. A system meant to control women even further and reduce women to passive beings, at the mercy of men.
Reflecting on the year 2022 it is with great sadness that the victory over pass laws is being overshadowed by Gender Based Violence which has reached pandemic proportions. The country’s President acknowledged that the violence perpetrated against women in South Africa is comparable to countries that are at war.
Despite the advances made by the country on women’s rights, women in South Africa face an onslaught of an oppressor with a different face; patriarchy and violence which is meted out in our homes, in our streets, in our communities, and eventually spills over into our schools.
According to the World Population Review:
• South Africa is the most
dangerous country in the world
for solo female travelers.
• Only 25% of South African women feel safe walking alone at night, the lowest of any
country.
• South Africa is notorious for
sexual violence.
• It is estimated that over 40% of
South African women will be
raped in their lifetime.
• South Africa was ranked the
worst for the homicide of women.
We need to do better!
intentional
Our women deserve to feel safe, loved and protected.
-
How are they expected to take
up their rightful place in society if they are living in constant fear?
-
Gender Based Violence is a societal ill.
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It is everyone in society’s responsibility to eradicate it.
Women and girls are the backbone of recovery in our communities, therefore putting them at the center of our economies will fundamentally drive better and more sustainable development outcomes for us all.
NAPTOSA is focused on achieving the ambitious targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 5. This is clear in our recently-adopted Gender Policy, that ensures women’s full and active participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision making within the union.
NAPTOSA calls on the entire country to make schools safe sanctuaries, free from SRGBV, where ALL children can develop holistically without the pressure to conform. By engaging boys in developing gender awareness, an alternative vision of masculinity can help bring gender justice.
NAPTOSA wishes all women in the education sector and South Africa as a whole, a Happy Women’s Month! Womandla!!!
Mr B.L Manuel Executive Director
by admin | Nov 18, 2022 | NEWSROOM
Government has released to social partners, for comment, its 6th draft on a “Framework for a social compact for South Africa”. The compact aims to build a national consensus (that is, we “leave no-one behind”) as part of the process of developing desperately needed levels of social cohesion.
The focus areas of the compact are the following:
- urgently and decisively solving the energy supply gap
- focussing on structural reforms
- expanding public employment programmes
- developing a social security system that is sustainable and affordable
- creating a conducive environment for SMME
- practical and value-adding localisation
- development of new models to fight crime, sabotage, and corruption
- development of a new model of demand-led skills coupled with an immigration policy
-
improving basic service delivery
As a stakeholder, NAPTOSA agrees that the identified areas need critical attention, and we are fully committed to participate in the process through FEDUSA that is a party to NEDLAC where the compact will ultimately be concluded.
The draft Framework gives an indication of the expected commitments of the various social partners. One of the things Labour is expected to commit to is investment by pension funds (including the GEPF) in infrastructure projects, and support for Eskom’s debt solution through the implementation of the NEDLAC -ESKOM compact concluded in 2019.
NAPTOSA questions why the GEPF specifically gets singled out while we have not seen private pension funds, and the ESKOM pension fund in particular, showing any interest in contributing to any of these matters. NAPTOSA was not a member of FEDUSA in 2019 when the NEDLAC-ESKOM compact was entered into, but we believe that the federation would not have supported the utilisation of GEPF funds.
When government mooted the idea in August 2020 to access retirement savings to finance long term infrastructure projects and high-impact capital projects we made our position very clear, namely “Hands off our pension fund, until there is clear evidence that Government is able to implement a corruption- free plan and guarantee profitable returns”. This remains our position and even more so in respect of ESKOM debt alleviation. We can never agree that GEPF funds be dumped in the ESKOM bottomless pit. We will urge our FEDUSA counterparts to support this position in the deliberations that are to take place on the social compact in NEDLAC.
BASIL MANUEL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
by admin | Nov 18, 2022 | NEWSROOM
In National News Flash 14 of 2022 members were informed of the developments in the 2022 wage negotiations and the State as Employer’s final wage offer.
The offer entailed two options, both of which would see employees-
- retain the current cash gratuity of R 1 000p.m. (allegedly translating to 4,5%of salary on average)
- retain the 1,5% pay progression – those who qualify in terms of the QMS and PMDS
The difference in the options revolved around a 2% wage increases offer. Option 1 would see all employees receiving 2%, while Option 2 would see the introduction of a sliding scale with salary levels 1-4 receiving 3%, salary levels 5-8 receiving 2,10%, salary levels 9 and 12 receiving 1,5%.
A survey was conducted to allow members to express their views on the offer.
The results of the survey indicate that members are not satisfied with the employer’s offer but are not prepared to go on strike. NAPTOSA will carry this response into the FEDUSA caucus where other FEDUSA unions to the PSCBC will also give feedback on their positions. As a member of a democratic Federation, NAPTOSA will abide by the majority view.
The age profile of the members who participated in the survey are as follows:
- Of the participants who agreed to accepting the employer’s offer, 53.3% preferred the first option of 2% across the board.
- Of the participants who agreed to accepting the employer’s offer, 53.3% preferred the first option of 2% across the board.
The way forward will depend on the responses of the other trade unions to the PSCBC. Should the majority accept the offer, an agreement will be concluded and NAPTOSA will be bound by such an agreement. If, however, the majority rejects the offer and the employer cannot be persuaded to improve its offer, the unions will have no option but to declare a dispute which will invoke the dispute resolution procedures of the Council. A process of conciliation will follow, failing which parties will be able to exercise their rights in terms of the Labour Relations Act, 1995. For trade unions that means the right to embark on strike action.
NAPTOSA wishes to conclude these negotiations as soon as posible to allow us to impact the next budget. Negotiating after the budget has been determined simply does not make sense.
The leadership wishes to express their gratitude to all the members who took the time to participate in the survey. Members are encouraged not to let an opportunity pass to participate in surveys that will influence their conditions of service.
Negotiators will revert to the PSCBC on a date still to be confirmed. Members will be informed of the developments as they happen.
BASIL MANUEL
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
by admin | Nov 17, 2022 | NEWSROOM
“ONLY ONE EARTH” WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY
Climate change is “the defining development challenge of our time,” and Africa, as a continent, is the most vulnerable to its consequences, according to the African Union (2015) and the United Nations (UN Environment, 2019). Fortunately, South Arica is one of only six African countries to rank among the 100 least-vulnerable, best-prepared countries in the world to cope with climate change: Mauritius (at No. 50) followed by Morocco, South Africa, Tunisia, the Seychelles, and Botswana. Unfortunately, the graphical representation below (showing the % of respondents who are climate change literate, meaning they have heard of climate change but also associate it with negative changes in weather patterns and know that human activity plays a part in causing it) shows that South Africa lags behind other African countries ito its ‘climate change literacy’.
Source: Afrobarometer Policy Paper No. 60 | August 2019| p. 17
World Environment Day on 5 June 2022 will focus on the need to live sustainably in harmony with nature, and our possibilities for shifting to a greener lifestyle through both policies and individual choices. “Only One Earth” was the motto for the 1972 Stockholm Conference, the very first conference that focused on the harmful effects of human activity on the environment. It is a global event which celebrates
and encourages action on the climate crisis.
NAPTOSA is acutely aware that, as a country, in particular, and a global village in general, we are running out of time to save our planet. Human activity is using up the equivalent of 1.6 Earths to maintain our current way of life – and nature simply
cannot keep up with our demands.
CO2 emissions will need to halve by 2030, to avoid temperature rises of 2.7C and higher by the end of the century.
The Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA), with its 515 000 members, to which NAPTOSA is affiliated, formalised its policy on climate change in October 2021. NAPTOSA was a proud contributor to the policy. To this end FEDUSA published four sector specific documents for its members as a starting point in discussions to reach a consensus position on climate change. Issues in Electricity, Issues in Mining, Issues in Transport, Issues in Water all set out the sector’s value chain, the impact on the environment, issues around health, jobs and a just transition.
NAPTOSA joins South Africa and the global community in celebrating World Environment Day. NAPTOSA wishes to acknowledge World Environmental Day with a call to its members to pause and to reflect on your own environmental footprint and, where possible, to make changes. Individual responsibility becomes a collective call to all of us to look at practical ways to reduce our carbon footprint. Professional activists in education are also environmental activists. Let it be said that
we lead by example on climate change.
by admin | Nov 17, 2022 | NEWSROOM
The Department of Basic Education Teacher Survey on the Recovery-Annual Teaching Plans (R-ATPs) seeks to establish the effectiveness of the R-ATPs as well as the requisite support teachers have received on the use of the “R-ATPs”.
NAPTOSA, together with SADTU, SAOU, NATU and PEU are part of the National Curriculum and Assessment Task Team (NCATT), that’s currently engaged in the review of the Recovery ATPs. However, as labour we are yet to finalise our position on the “R-ATPs”.
NAPTOSA encourages members to complete the DBE survey via the following link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TESTR-ATP
The closing date is 7 July 2022.
BASIL MANUEL
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
