Department of Labour ignores 2,242 jobless steel workers 

10 March 2016

The DA has confirmed that Highveld Steel will be wound down by business rescuers, Matsun Associates, and all 2,242 workers retrenched leaving these two thousand-odd families without breadwinners. More troubling, is that the Department of Labour failed to meet an agreement reached with Highveld Steel to assist in retraining and reskilling the workers through the Training Layoff Scheme in order to prevent the job losses.

As a result of the Department’s inaction, all 2,242 workers, many of whom are breadwinners, will be left out in the cold.

I will therefore request that the Minister of Labour, Mildred Oliphant, appear before the Portfolio Committee on Labour to account for her Department’s failure to prevent the retrenchments.

In November, Highveld Steel, the Department of Labour and the unions agreed to implement a Training Layoff Scheme as an alternative to retrenchments, to be funded by the Department. The Department failed to make payments to the scheme and Highveld Steel was forced to carry the cost itself – to a tune of R38 million since November.

The Training Layoff Scheme was established by the Department as an alternative to retrenchment for companies in distress. It is therefore unfathomable that the Department failed to pay for the retraining of Highveld Steel workers given that the scheme has R3.3 billion available in its budget.

The Department could have also assisted Highveld Steel through another of its initiatives, the Productivity South African Fund. Productivity SA, with R229.1 million available, assists companies with providing skills in turnaround and business improvements.  

It is clear that the Minister Oliphant is a lame duck. She consistently misses committee meetings and could not provide any substantive answers when asked about the Highveld Steel debacle when asked by the DA on the 17th February 2016.

With 8.2 million South Africans without work, or discouraged to the point of no longer looking for work, we cannot afford a Labour Minister who does not take decisive action against job losses.

Statement issued by Ian Ollis MP, DA Shadow Minister of Labour, 10 March 2016