Lotus FM Saga Part 1

It reads like a story book!

This is what Mandla Soko and Thami Ntenteni are hiding from us. This is the cover-up from Senior and Top Management who are supposed to act in terms of the PFMA (Public Finance Management Act) and who are supposed to upheld Good Corporate Governance in terms of the King I and II recommendations. Certain names have been deleted for the moment to protect the individuals.

Samuels pleaded guilty at her disciplinary hearing and she only received a warning. What message are we sending to employees? The public must now pay more license fees to pay for these kind of fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

Has the money been recovered from Samuels, as is mandatory per the PFMA?

Scroll down to the last mail and start reading there first.

_____________________________________________

From: Strini Naicker
Sent: 23 December 2008 01:29 PM
To: xxxxxxxxx; Werner Steyn; Ruben Naiker
Cc: Santosh Beharie; xxxxxx; xxxxxx
Subject: RE: AIR TIME CONCERNS - PART 1

Hi,

Is someone out of their mind giving away all this free airtime. Werner, please investigate ASAP. This is compromising airtime revenue as other clients are receiving exposure.

Strini Naicker
Acting Group Executive
SABC Commercial Enterprises
Tel. : 011-7147396
Fax. : 011-7147167
Cell : 0827764869

---

From: xxxxxxxx
Sent: 23 December 2008 01:23 PM
To: Strini Naicker
Cc: Santosh Beharie; xxxxxxxx; xxxxxxxxx
Subject: AIR TIME CONCERNS - PART 1

Hi Strini,

Re : Airtime concerns : Premier Attractions.


Premier attractions engaged with a trade exchange with Lotus fm for a new years eve party at the ICC on the 31st December 2008 as part of celebrating 25 years of broadcasting. Attached, is the trade exchange document that includes elements that Lotus will receive with regards to the trade agreement which is valued at R93,470 (excl. vat). The document was approved on 28th of November and was actioned by SABC Commercial Enterprises on the 29th of December 2008 whereby the value of airtime of R93,470 was scheduled by Wanele's department.

After investigating the airtime attached to the New years eve party, the following is scheduled directly by the station which is over and above the trade exchange (the information is supplied to best of my knowledge obtained from Station) is as follows :

1. Promos 28/11-26/12 R153,120
2. Promos 22/11-01/12 R 31,170
3. Dj Mentions R148,310
4. OB's on 31/12 R220,000
5. Interviews x 4 R 42,600
6. Additional adhoc mentions +/- 2 (no schedule available)

Total value to client on the above R595,200 (excl. vat)

Also, there are print campaign and promotional items associated to the above which is an estimate value of R130 000.

Attached are the documents supporting how the above figure was derived. I hope this is the information that you were looking for. I am in consultation with Santosh to edit the existing top 100 promos to exclude client's names been mentioned.

As a matter of urgency please advise on the way forward.

Kindest Regards

xxxxxxxx
Portfolio Sales Manager : Lotus FM
SABC Radio Sales
Tel. 031-xxxxxxx
Fax. 031-3625476
Cell. xxxxxxxxx

---

From: Strini Naicker
Sent: 23 December 2008 10:40 AM
To: xxxxxxx
Cc: Santosh Beharie; 'xxxxxxxxx'
Subject: RE: Air-time concerns at Lotus FM
Hi,

Well, stop this immediately. Let me know of the outcome.

Regards

Strini Naicker
Acting Group Executive
SABC Commercial Enterprises
Tel. : 011-7147396
Fax. : 011-7147167
Cell : 0827764869

---

From: xxxxxxxx
Sent: 22 December 2008 09:22 PM
To: Strini Naicker
Cc: Santosh Beharie; 'xxxxxxxxxx'
Subject: RE: Air-time concerns at Lotus FM

Hi Strini,

Below is an email that I sent to Santosh Beharie (Acting Station Manager) regarding my concerns. With reference to the attached trade exchange document client was supposed to receive +/- R93 000 worth of advertising which was scheduled by Wanele's department and R20,000 generic spend schedule by Radio Sales : KZN. I investigated the scheduling of commercials today, and ascertained that the Dj's mentions and scheduling of additional commercials was sanctioned by Gail Samuels. Subsequent, to this Gail had a meeting with client and approved additional flighting of commercials which are live reads and DJ mention in each show (24 hours flighting). I am not sure what the rational that was used to allocate additional commercials to client which Gail is to advise on.

My concerns, as iterated in the email below is that clients commercials are being engulfed by Premier Attractions commercials. This is a major concern, as it seems that Premier Attractions are owning Lotus fm.

These additional flighting of the Dj mentions and promos, etc. are scheduled from the 19-31 December 2008.


Kindest Regards

xxxxxxxx
Portfolio Sales Manager : Lotus FM
SABC Radio Sales
Tel. 031-xxxxxxx
Fax. 031-3625476
Cell. 08xxxxxxxx

---

From: xxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 22 December 2008 01:19 PM
To: Santosh Beharie
Cc: Suveena Devkurran; Wanele Mngomezulu; Andrew Smythe
Subject: Premier Attractions

Hi Santosh,

I have received numerous complaints from clients and Account Executives regarding their commercials been engulfed by Premier Attractions promos. As far as I am aware that the trade exchange between Lotus fm and Premier Attractions is +/- R93 000 but it seems like client is getting more value than the trade exchange agreement.

Premier attractions commercials (recorded, live reads and DJ live mentions) as being played every half hour on the station.

This is quite a concern to clients as their commercials are being lost amongst the Premier Attraction commercials. I am quite concerned that clients might want to cancel their radio campaigns.

Please could this matter be treated urgently as we have clients paying for their commercials. I will also appreciate it, if a schedule for Premier Attractions can be provided to me.

Kindest Regards

xxxxxxxxx
Portfolio Sales Manager : Lotus FM
SABC Radio Sales
Tel. 031-xxxxxx
Fax. 031-3625476
Cell. 08xxxxxxxx

---

From: Strini Naicker
Sent: 22 December 2008 07:08 PM
To: xxxxxxx; Gail Samuels
Subject: RE: Air-time concerns at Lotus FM

Hi xxxxxx/ Gail,

Please send me your urgent response tomorrow as this is a serious allegation. And it is probably compromising airtime revenues.

Regards

Strini Naicker
Acting Group Executive
SABC Commercial Enterprises
Tel. : 011-7147396
Fax. : 011-7147167
Cell : 0827764869

---

From: xxxxxxxxx
Sent: 22 December 2008 03:16 PM
To: Strini Naicker
Subject: Air-time concerns at Lotus FM


Hi Strini

Apologies for sending you this email...but I do believe that you are the appropriate SABC Group Executive to copy this communication to. Please refer to emails below. The core of the concern refers to the value of publicity that this commercial entity (viz: Premier Attractions) is receiving via Lotus FM (a PBS unit). A comment from the Portfolio Sales Manager of Lotus FM (xxxxxxx of Radio Active) is also attached below. I am not going to make any allegations at this stage, but suffice to say (as we both know), that SABC radio personnel (including the Station's Management) have had their service-contracts (with the SABC) terminated for lesser offenses. Perhaps, the necessary investigation can be lodged from your office?

Apologies for disturbing you during the festive season. I hope that you and the family enjoy a peaceful holiday...

Regards

xxxxxx


----- Original Message -----

From: xxxxx @sabc.co.za>

To: xxxxxx.co.za>

Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 10:15 AM

Subject: RE: Marketing your best (...and your second-best) on-air products


Hi xxxxx,

I totally agree with the comments. This was a decision by the station manager.


Kindest Regards

xxxxxxxx
Portfolio Sales Manager : Lotus FM
SABC Radio Sales
Tel. 031-xxxxxx
Fax. 031-3625476
Cell. 08xxxxxxxx

---

From: xxxxx
Sent: 21 December 2008 10:53 AM
To: xxxxxx
Subject: Marketing your best (...and your second-best) on-air products

Hi xxxxx,


Kindly refer to my email to Gail and Santosh (below).

How and why is Premier Attractions getting so much of free publicity?

The "one" commercial that features "almost all" of the DJ's voices, is almost 1 minute and 30 seconds long...and it plays at least once every hour. There is no formal log in the studio for these commercials. They are being played at will. This excludes the other commercials that are either directly or indirectly publicizing the same event...viz: "Lotus's Family-Fusion New Year's Eve party at the ICC"...and the "Song of the Year count-down at the ICC on New Year's Eve"...and the official "Lotus FM and Premier Attractions New Years Eve Party at the ICC" advertisement. This is a pure commercial venture for Premier Attractions. We have not yet factored into account the number of free-bie DJ mentions that are being made...and the ticket give-aways that are being done. So, the final question is...How much is Premier Attractions actually paying to the SABC for this publicity...and can a PBS-entity legally justify such a commercial partnership in terms of the airtime given?

Regards

xxxxxxx

Strike at Lotus FM

Dear Keobokile,

This serves to confirm that we hereby give 48 hours notice of the continuation of the strike at Lotus FM, to commence on Tuesday, 18 August 2009.

Our demands are as follows:

That the Station manager, Ms. Gail Samuals lawfully and procedurally be redeployed due to the inter alia the total breakdown of trust between her and our members at Lotus FM,
That her disciplinary hearing be reviewed by an independent third party as we are of the view that the charges against her were of such serious nature that it warranted her dismissal, but that she is protected by management.

Sincerely,

Hannes du Buisson
President
BEMAWU
Cell. 0829208669
Fax 0866715585
Tel. 012 6537380
Blog http://bemawu.blogspot.com

R2000,00

BEMAWU members will also get the R 2000,00 IF the SABC shows a R21m surplus.

What are the chances? From almost a Billion Rand in the red to R21M surplus? Someone has been hoodwinked here....
Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom!

Refusal to Bargain & other matters

To:

The General Manager,

Employee Relations

SABC

From:

BEMAWU HEAD OFFICE

Dear Keobokile,

RE: REFUSAL TO BARGAIN & OTHER MATTERS

We act on behalf of our members.

On Tuesday, 4 August 2009 we send you a request to start negotiations on behalf of members outside the so-called bargaining unit. To date we have not received a response to our letter.

We are of the view this constitutes a refusal to bargain. Should we not receive confirmation in respect of our request within 24 hours, we will proceed with a dispute.

Furthermore, the SABC has published what clearly are unilateral changes to terms and conditions of employment.

It is an established term and condition of employment to accumulate leave. Only a very small part of that leave are compulsory leave and has to be taken or forfeited. There is no limit on the number of days of leave employees may accumulate and no agreement that our members will forfeit other leave not taken. Leave is regulated under the Basic Conditions of Employment, and also under the Law of Contract. Your decision to unilateral change terms and conditions of employment is reviewable in the Labour Court not only under the BCEA and the Law of Contract, but also in the High Court under the Just Administrative Action Act as you have unfairly exercised an administrative act.

It is furthermore an established term and condition of employment to encash leave. Should you wish to temporarily suspend the encashment of leave, you have to negotiate this with us, and not simply make unilateral decisions in this regard.

We request that you publish a reversal of the abovementioned two decisions with immediate effect, failing which we will bring an application in the appropriate forum, be it the High Court, Labour Court or CCMA to protect and defend our member’s rights.

Sincerely,

Hannes du Buisson

President : BEMAWU

Selling of Leave

BEMAWU will NEVER negotiate something that is already a right. It is each and every employee's right to encash their leave in terms of the SABC's own policies.

We will restore that process via litigation should the SABC not agree to reinstate the selling of leave with immediate effect.

Post Retirement Medical Aid (PRMA)

The High Court has appointed a judge as case manager in the PRMA case going to Court in February next year.

BEMAWU members are automatically claimants in the matter by virtue of membership. If you have recently joined, you will be added as a claimant. If you are no longer a BEMAWU member, you will be removed from the list of claimants.

We now have to finalize the list of claimants as we cannot keep on changing the list by adding at the last minute new claimants.

Our list will close by Friday, 14 August 2009. If your name is not on the list, you will not benefit from the court ruling as we did not bring a class action. In the Coop case the ruling was applicable to the claimants only, and not to the hundreds of other pensioners too.

The case has been set down for 10 court days and will not be postponed again unless something seriously happens.

BEMAWU is the only union involved in this matter. The case is about the funding of your medical aid when on pension, when you need it the most. Medical cost is escalating every year. The SABC pension is almost always not enough to cover medical cost and provide for a bread line living. It is a term and condition of employment that the SABC contributes to your medical aid when on pension. That contribution has been unilaterally withdrawn by the SABC. Although it may sound far in the future, often time flies, and when you about to go on pension, it will be too late to fight for this contribution. A contribution that could make the difference between good health care or not.

Update Salaries

We have received confirmation from the CPO that Salaries will most definitely be in all member's bank accounts tomorrow morning.

In respect of the leave issue, please take note that BEMAWU does NOT agree to the proposals and we will engage the SABC to withdraw that unlawful instruction in respect of the capping and selling of leave.

We welcome the other cost cutting measures.

Leave

The document currently being circulated which purports to come from the company secretary (extract hereunder) refers. This documents contains a part in respect of employee’s leave credit.

“Leave Encashment

• All Leave encashment to be stopped immediately

• Leave accumulation to be capped to 10 days per annum. All employees with excess leave need to take all excess leave in the next six months or else it will be forfeited.”

It is a term and condition of employment to encash leave an also to accumulate leave, in particular before going on pension. The SABC has an (unlawful) practice to not pay out overtime, but to give time off. This has resulted in many instances to the leave accumulation of employees.

To change a term and condition of employment, the SABC needs to negotiate with us. We do not accept the unilateral change to terms and conditions of employment and will engage the SABC in this respect.

Hannes

Some of the content of the letter:

“At a Board meeting held on Thursday 30 July 2009 the Board resolved that the Company needed to effect urgent further cost cutting initiatives and these are to be implemented with effect from 3 August 2009. The initiatives will not affect the contractual benefits as are covered in individual employment contracts. The Board is deeply concerned that the initiatives as detailed in the Austerity Plan have not yielded significant benefits and the culture in the Company towards cost reduction implementation has not changed.

The Board will also be subjected to the same initiatives as are applicable to Management and have taken further action by not taking the home equipment they are entitled to in terms of Policy, nor have the Board taken the DSTV subscription or the Television License subsidy they are entitled to.

These measures will remain in force until otherwise advised and until the revenue and cost situation in the Company shows significant improvement.

The Board of Directors RESOLVED that the following additional cost reduction initiatives be implemented with immediate effect:

Travel & Accommodation

• All Domestic Travel & Air Travel up to six hours duration restricted to Economy Class

· Domestic accommodation to rationalized to ensure maximum value at cheapest rate including use of Bed and breakfast where the rate is to the benefit of SABC

• International Accommodation - $450 maximum daily room rack rate limit on all accommodation

• No more than two people per Division, per event unless motivated and

approved by GCEO

• No conferences or seminars

• Video Conferencing to be encouraged to help reduce costs of travel

• No aircraft or helicopter charters without prior approval of the Chairperson

• No security detail or chauffeur service other than what is required

to perform duty

· All entertainment and marketing unless strictly and demonstrably revenue generating stopped

Car Hire

• All car hire to be restricted to Class B except where MPV hired for

a group traveling together

• People traveling to same destination to share vehicles

Newspapers

• Newspaper subscriptions to be rationalized and limited to the floor as opposed to individuals

Television Sets in Offices

• Television Sets in Offices to be discontinued except where required for Operational reasons, i.e. Channels Heads, programmers, News

Home Equipment & DSTV Subscription

• DSTV subscription for Managers to be discontinued

• No Home equipment for Directors, only laptop, data card & Cell Phone

• No TV License subsidy or DSTV subscription for Directors

Cell Phone & Data Card Subscription

• Cell Phones to be rationalized and cell phone limits are to be

strictly enforced

• Data Cards to be rationalized and Data Card limits are to be strictly enforced

Petrol Cards

• All Petrol Cards for Managers to be withdrawn & to be replaced with

fuel allowance except where there is a contractual obligation/ condition of service

Leave Encashment

• All Leave encashment to be stopped immediately

• Leave accumulation to be capped to 10 days per annum. All employees with excess leave need to take all excess leave in the next six months or else it will be forfeited.

Please ensure that the initiatives as detailed are clearly communicated and that all affected Managers are fully apprised of the initiatives. Implementation is immediate. “

Pay Increase

The 8.5% salary increase with the backdated payments will happen on Thursday, 6 August according to the SABC Pay Office.

Should the SABC not honour this deadline, we will proceed with arbitration on the full 12.2%

Negotiations

PER EMAIL

The General Manager

Employee Relations

SABC

4 August 2009

For attention : Mr Keobokile Mosweu

Dear Keobokile,

NEGOTIATIONS ON BEHALF OF BEMAWU MEMBERS OUTSIDE THE SO-CALLED BARGAINING UNIT

This serves to confirms that BEMAWU would like to enter into negotiations on behalf of our members outside the so-called bargaining unit. We did not agree at all that these members had to be excluded from the salary agreement we signed last week Thursday with the SABC.

We request that we meet as soon as this week to start and finalise the negotiations on behalf of our members only.

Sincerely,

Hannes du Buisson

President : BEMAWU

Results for 1.5%

Herewith the results for the acceptance of the additional 1.5% backdated to 1 April 2009 and implemented on the 1st of December 2009.

This increase has nothing to do with annual bonuses and will in no way replace your annual bonus.

Accept	91.43%
Reject	1.14%
Spoilt	7.43%
Total	100.00%

A word of thanks to the NEC, National Structure and Shop Stewards of BEMAWU for your support and participation in this process. To members, for your trust and faith in us and your diligent responses, sometimes in the early hours of the morning on weekends.

The Ballot Process

In terms of the Labour Relations Act, No 66 of 1995 every registered trade union must ballot its members before embarking on a strike. Hereunder the exact wording of the Act.

 

Section 95 (5) (p) The constitution of any trade union or employers' organisation that intends to register must-provide that the trade union or employers' organisation, before calling a strike or lock-out, must conduct a ballot of those of its members in respect of whom it intends to call the strike or lock-out;

 

A ballot is not secret, only a member’s vote is secret. The reason for that is very simple. It protects a member from victimisation, intimidation and being called a sell-out and other ugly things. It furthermore enables a member as an individual to exercise a right in privacy and to give effect to democracy, where the majority decision will count.  

 

BEMAWU balloted its members several times during this salary dispute. Not only did we do this electronically, but also via a paper ballot. We did this because we cannot accept and consider it as a mandate to proceed with a strike when a mandate was obtained (by the other two unions) in the following circumstances:

 

·         A meeting of all three unions is called jointly, and it is attended by mixed membership (Nothing wrong with the joined meeting, but no means to establish a mandate per individual union)

·         No attendance registered is kept of who attended,

·         The meeting is attended by between 120 and 150 members out of a possible 2200 members,

·         In Cape Town for instance, due to the size of the venue only 3 or 4 people attended,

·         At the end of the meeting members are asked, by show of hands who supports a strike, and initially only a few people put up their hands. When the loud ones in the meeting started to shout and look around more people put up their hands. (We do not suggest this method, as an initial indicator does not have its place, but most definitely it can never replace a proper balloting process)

·         No other union balloted its members, which off course in unconstitutional (but no longer a legal requirement).

 

BEMAWU is a professional, technological advanced and democratic union. We at all times attempt to test a decision with the members. At times we as the leadership have to make decisions. Decisions we know is in the best interest of our members. In this salary dispute we have NOT exercised that option to make a decision, but opted to ballot you every time things have changed. All our members have cell phones. Cell phones are used by everyone in modern days for competitions and voting.

 

To vote via sms have various benefits. Votes can be counted electronically, and is available immediately. The votes are held by someone else, in our instance Vodacom, as it sits on their servers. In terms of the Companies Act they must keep those records for at least a period of five (5) years. It can be accessed at any time and be downloaded for auditing. It is not a 100% ideal, but no system is. Each vote will only reflects a cell number, and not a name. The electronic counting filters out duplicate votes and does not count spoilt votes, i.e when the sms asks to vote “Accept” or “Reject” and you vote “Yes” it will count it as a spoilt vote, because no one would know if the “yes” is for “accept” or “reject”. It is set up to only count one of the key words you are required to sms back. You can vote from any place in the world, and don’t have to be at the meeting to cast a vote.

 

With the paper ballots we had in this salary dispute only 30% of our members voted. With the electronic voting, at times as much as  70% of members voted.   

 

The voting in this salary dispute was monitored by the negations team and individual members of the National Executive and National Structure of BEMAWU. It will also be submitted to our auditors to report on same in our annual financial statements as to whether the communicated vote is supported by the sms’s received.

 

Although the voting by sms is a transparent process, we will at all times guarantee that your vote remains secret and we will never tell anyone who is not authorised by law to know how you voted.

 

To all our new members, welcome to a progressive, professional and efficient specialist trade union.

 

To management of the SABC, please do NOT think you off the hook. We will continue to engage you and monitor you, more closely as ever before on your fruitless and wasteful expenditure. We will engage you on regradings (from one scale to another)  and promotions of our members. We will engage you on  the non-existent Human Resource system, in particular the non-existence of a career path. We will continue to publish your underperformance, corruption and wastage of money until the day it stops. Each and every member of BEMAWU will be our eyes and ears and will feed us with every bit of information that is necessary to expose you. We will however not be unfair and we will not publish any defamation, because we are responsible and professional. We will not seek sensation.

 

(PS. Members, please make sure that we have your latest cell number. If you have lost your cell phone, mail us at heaoffice@bemawu.org.za or phone us during office hours at 0829208669 to establish another means of communication with you.)

Further 1,5%

The Board has approved the further 1,5% backdated to 1 April and be implemented on the 1st of December 2009. This makes it an effective 10% increase. An sms will be send again to ask you to vote on this.

Salary Adjustments

VERY IMPORTANT!!!

In terms of the salary agreement, only BEMAWU members and non-unionised
members will receive the salary adjustment of 8.5% within the next few days,
backdated to 1 April.

Please ensure you have a BEMAWU deduction on your pay slip. If not, and you
have joined, or you want to join now, fax us an application form urgently,
to ensure you get your salary increase in time.

Mail us at headoffice@bemawu.org.za for a form.

Members outside the so-called bargaining unit

To all BEMAWU members outside the so-called bargaining unit:

We wanted you to be included in this salary adjustment agreement. The SABC refused. Rumor has it that you will receive between 3 and 5% increase. We believe this is unfair. We will therefore start a process of negotiations with the SABC to negotiate a better and proper increase for you. We (and you) are entitled to collective bargaining in terms of the Labor Relations Act. The process will be as follows:
We want a mandate from you to start this process. Do so by sending us an email or sms. Email to headoffice@bemawu.org.za or sms to 0829208669.
We will negotiate for BEMAWU members only. This will make it easier for the SABC to agree, as non-unionised members will still only receive their 3-5%.
If you mandate us to start the negotiations, please do not accept a salary increase you not happy with. If a salary increase is imposed on you unilaterally, let us know immediately and we will do the necessary legal correspondence.
Please provide us with your mandate as soon as possible.
Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom!

Proposed Agreement (We have not signed as yet)

Hereunder the proposed agreement. A sms will be send to you to finally mandate us to accept or reject this offer. Please read through the agreement before responding to the sms. Your response via sms should simply be "Accept" or "Reject".

If you fall outside the so-called bargaining unit, we will start a process to negotiate for you in particular.

____________________________________________

MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT

ENTERED INTO BETWEEN

THE SOUTH AFRICAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION LIMITED

( HEREINAFTER REFERRED TO AS "THE SABC" )

AND

BROADCASTING, ELECTRONIC MEDIA & ALLIED WORKERS UNION

( HEREINAFTER REFERRED TO AS "BEMAWU" )

1. OBJECTIVE

1.1 To provide for the annual general salary adjustment for employees for the financial year 2009/10.

2. SCOPE OF APPLICATION

2.1 This agreement will be applicable to:

2.2.1 Employees who are employed by the SABC falling within the bargaining unit (scale codes 300-409) and those employees appointed in terms of fixed term contracts (scale code 600) falling within the bargaining unit;

2.2.2 Who are members in good standing of BEMAWU; and

2.2 The scope of this agreement excludes employees employed in terms of fixed terms contracts (scale code 900 ).

3. SALARY ADJUSTMENT

3.1 BEMAWU members in the bargaining unit as referred to in clause 2 above, will receive eight point five (8.5) % (percent) salary adjustment across the board (ATB) for the financial year 2009/10 and back paid to 1 April 2009; and

3.2 The referred to salary adjustment will be effected within five (5) days upon signing of this agreement.

4. DATE OF IMPLEMENTATION

4.1 This agreement shall come into effect on the date of signature hereof and shall remain in force until 31 March 2010, unless otherwise agreed to by the parties hereto in writing.

5. STATUS OF AGREEMENT

5.1 The parties furthermore agree that this agreement will constitute an amendment to the provisions of the Multi Term Agreement dated 8 July 2008 and therefore does not impact on the validity of the provisions of the Multi Term Agreement referred to above in any other manner.

6. FURTHER CONDITIONS

6.1 The parties furthermore specifically agree as follows:

6.1.1 The demand from BEMAWU for an additional one point

five (1.5) % salary increment to be effected, is subject to SABC

Board feedback in this regard and same will be given to BEMAWU on Friday 31 July 2009;

6.1.2 That the parties will negotiate on how the remaining two point two (2.2) % salary increment could be utilised in respect of BEMAWU members.

6.1.3 That the SABC agrees to follow process to:

6.1.3.1 Scale down the petrol card and maintenance of car expenses of Top & Senior Managers;

6.1.3.2 Scale down on DSTV allowances for Top & Senior Managers to employees that really need it for the execution of their duties;

6.1.3.3 Scale down on free newspapers for Top & Senior Managers to employees that really need it for the execution of their duties;

6.1.3.4 Review the processes mentioned in 6.1.3.1 to 6.1.3.3, on an ongoing basis, with a view to restoring or phasing out the benefits completely, subject to the financial well being of the SABC and the availability of funds.

6.1.3.4 That the SABC will take immediate action in terms of the Public Finance Management Act to sue and to criminally prosecute, where applicable employees guilty of fruitless and wasteful expenditure including fraud, theft and other unauthorized financial losses.

6.1.4 That the investigation currently being conducted by the Auditor General to continue to its logic conclusion and that the parties will at all times co-operate in this regard. All outstanding Internal Audit Reports will also receive management’s urgent attention and action;

6.1.5 BEMAWU agrees to provisionally withdraw the dispute referred to the CCMA in respect of the salary increases which has been set down for 12 August 2009. Should the SABC be in breach of any of the clauses of this agreement, the parties agree that BEMAWU may re-enroll its dispute for arbitration as per the current referral to the CCMA for arbitration;

6.1.6 Should the feedback from the SABC Board be that the SABC will not effect a further one point five (1.5) % then BEMAWU has the right to proceed with its dispute set down for 12 August 2009 at the CCMA to effect the full twelve point two (12.2)%.

6.2 Should any other employee receive a better increase or better conditions as reflected in this agreement, those better increases and/or condition(s) will be extended automatically to BEMAWU members as well.

7. INTERPRETATION AND APPLICATION

7.1 In the event of any conflict between the provisions of this agreement and any other agreement, the provisions of this agreement shall take precedence; and

7.2 No amendments to this agreement shall be in force unless reduced to writing and signed by the parties.

8. DISPUTE RESOLUTION

8.1 Should there be a dispute about the interpretation or application of this agreement, any party may refer the dispute to the Council for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) for adjudication.

THUS DONE AND SIGNED AT JOHANNESBURG ON THIS …… DAY OF ……………….. 2009.

Intimidation

Some of our members were intimidated today because they did not participate in the strike.

We will not tolerate this behavior of individuals at all. BEMAWU has followed a democratic process to ballot our members in respect of the acceptance of the SABC's offer. The overwhelming majority of our members voted in favor of accepting the SABC's offer on the conditions stipulated by us. We respect that majority vote. We at the same expect other employees to respect that democratic process and the outcome of same as we respect their right to strike. We are jointly in this dispute as organized labor and we remain committed to the cause of workers and unity of Organised labor.

However, the acts of intimidation is now threatening the unity of organized labor.

BEMAWU is not in bed with management, as certain individual would like to propagate in their cheap recruitment campaigns. We have pulled off a full blown strike at Lotus FM last week and we will continue with that strike if our demands are not met. We are on strike there because members have voted in favor of a strike. If we were in bed with management, why are we on strike then at Lotus?

So why are we prepared to sign the agreement? We are giving effect to the ballot we have conducted. In other word, we received a mandate to settle the dispute. Similar to what MWASA did last year when they signed the multi-term agreement with the SABC without us or CWU agreeing and signing the agreement. They did that because one would presume they had mandate from their members to sign. We presume that is why they consulted us to inform us they have signed. The CWU followed suit and signed the agreement without talking to BEMAWU. Presumably at that point in time it was more important to adhere to member's mandate to sign and accept than to stick with organized labor.

Putting differently, they followed mandate as we doing now.

The majority of our members believe the offer of 8,5% with a further 1,5% in acceptable in the current circumstances, and they have mandated us to accept the offer. The remaining 2,2% will not disappear. We believe we have secured it for further negotiations.

We have reported the intimidation to the SABC and the Police. Anyone intimidating any of our members will be criminally prosecuted. The SABC ensured us they will guarantee the safety of our members.

We request that all intimidation incidents be reported to us to ensure prosecution.

We are the SABC, and we are supposed to be professional and step with human rights and democracy.

Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom!

The Pension Fund Act

Herewith an extract of the Pension Fund Act. It appears from the Act that the SABC can fund a contribution holiday with its surplus.

15E Utilisation of surplus for benefit of employer

(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the rules a participating employer may request the board to use

actuarial surplus allocated to the employer surplus account in terms of sections 15B, 15C and 15F for use by that employer

for any of the following purposes, namely -

(a) funding a contribution holiday;

(b) payment of pensions, or an increase in pensions in course of payment, so as to compensate members for

the loss of any subsidy from the employer of their medical costs after retirement;

(c) meeting, in full or in part, expenses which the employer is obliged to pay in terms of the rules of the fund;

(d) improving the benefits payable to all members, or a category of members as defined in the rules, as

determined by the employer;

(e) transferring part, or all, of the employer surplus account in terms of subsection (2) to the employer

surplus account in another fund where the employer is a participating employer;

(f) on liquidation of the fund in terms of sections 28 or 29, payment in cash to the employer in terms of

section 15I; and

(g) in order to avoid retrenchment of a significant proportion of the workforce, payment in cash to the

employer in terms of section 15J:

Provided that the members of the board who have been elected by members of the fund shall not have a vote in any deliberation over the use of any credit balance in the employer surplus account.

Our Conditions

Herewith our submission to the SABC's Employee Relations in respect of the
settlement of the wage dispute between the SABC and BEMAWU. It goes without saying that the 8.5% must be backdated to 1 April 2009 and that this submission is without prejudice.

28 July 2009

The General Manager

Employee Relations

SABC

Dear Edwin,

Herewith the conditions:

BEMAWU is prepared to accept 8.5% ATB increase to be implemented with
immediate effect for our members on condition:

* That we will negotiate the implementation date of a further 1.5%
in this current financial year, to be implemented by no later than 1
December 2009,

* That we will negotiate the difference, being (2.2%) at a later
stage and not necessarily to be implemented in this financial year. This
2.2% could also be allocated, by agreement to regrade employees on merit and
in terms of policy.

* That Top and Senior Management start paying for their own petrol
and maintenance cost which they currently receiving for free,

* That Top and Senior Management start paying for their own DSTV,
which they currently receiving for free,

* That Top and Senior Management start paying for their newspapers,
which they currently receiving for free,

* That all outstanding audit reports be actioned with immediate
effect,

* That all fruitless and wasteful expenditure being addressed with
immediate effect and the employees involved be sued and prosecuted as per
the Public Finance Management Act,

* That if any other union negotiates a better increase, BEMAWU
members be entitled to same. (Sunset clause)

Sincerely,

Hannes du Buisson

President : BEMAWU

Pension Fund

SABC employees will note that the SABC only paid half (7%) of its
contribution to the Pension Fund. In terms of the Pension Fund Act it
appears as if the SABC is entitled to take what is called a "contribution
holiday". We will study the Act in depth to make sure the SABC operates
within the boundaries of the Pension Fund Act.

It is a term and condition of employment that the SABC contributes 14% to
the pension fund.

We have a Defined Benefit Fund, which effectively means the SABC has to
ensure that the Fund stays healthy at all times.

Retrenchments

We are concerned about the latest enquiries by management to identify so-called redundant employees. Not only is it unprocedural and unlawful to do it this way, but it is also misplaced.

Retrenchments must start with management, then with freelancers and not the staff.

We request that staff submit names to us of managers doing nothing and who does not have a job or real function. We will put those names forward as the first ones to go. Then we will look at freelancers who are not a member of our union.

Mail us at headoffice@bemawu.org.za

We will soon put a moratorium on the joining of new members until after the retrenchments. We are not prepared to take on new members at the point where they stand to loose their jobs. This will result in the union paying for legal costs should there be a dispute of members who has never contributed to the union before. BEMAWU will only fight for its own members, freelance and permanent and we will try to make sure our members have continued employment at the SABC.

JOIN BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.

Coffe mugs and memory sticks

News offices recently received coffee mugs and 1gb memory sticks with SABC branding on to be handed out to newsmakers.

We take it the financial crisis is now over and the SABC can afford the full 12.2% increase and all TV producers will be paid in full by the end of this month.

BEMAWU's Position re Salaries

There seems to be confusion as to the position of BEMAWU in respect of the salary negotiations.

To clarify:

1. The SABC and BEMAWU (and other unions) signed a multi-term agreement for a three (3) year salary increase. In terms of that agreement the SABC must implement the average CPI-X plus 1% for this year. It is common cause that the CPI-X average is 11.2%. The SABC is therefore legally bound to implement at 1 April 2009 the 12.2% increase.
2. There is no opt-out clause in the agreement, in particular there is no clause that the SABC does not have to implement the CPI-X plus 1%. There is only a clause that states that any party may re-open negotiations. Negotiations mean parties talk to each other and come to an agreement and a new agreement is then concluded, or there is no agreement, and the current agreement remains in force.
3. We have complied with our part of the agreement, to enter into negotiations with the SABC. There is currently no agreement, therefore the agreement of CPI-X plus 1% remains in force.
4. We have an arbitration date for 12 August 2009. Should we fail to reach agreement on a lower salary increase the arbitration will continue. As has been stated by Employee Relations previously, the arbitration will be formality for us to win. They however intent raising a technical point in respect of the classification of our dispute.
5. The other two unions abandoned their member's right to the 12.2% increase. BEMAWU decided to not do that, but to insist that our members have the right to a 12.2% increase.
6. On the basis that they have abandoned their member's right to the 12.2% increase, the CCMA issued a certificate for them to strike.
7. We also served a notice of a strike on the SABC is in respect of a secondary strike. In other word, in sympathy of the other two unions.
8. The SABC has offered a 8.5% increase with immediate effect and a further 1.5%. In respect of the further 1.5% we have to negotiate the implementation date thereof. The chairperson of the board in a subsequent meeting attempted to withdraw the 1.5%. We did not accept that withdrawal. We believe if an offer has been made by the GCEO of the SABC, it is legitimate and must be honoured.
9. Based on this offer, and also an undertaking that we will be able to in future negotiate around the remaining 2.2% (8.5% plus 1.5% = 10%, difference to 12.2% = 2.2%) we balloted members.
10. The outcome of the ballot was in favour of accepting the offer, with certain conditions attached thereto.
11. We are now trying to meet with the SABC to finalise the agreement. Until such time that we have signed the agreement we are still able and in a position to strike. For instance, we don't know if the SABC will agree to all of the conditions we have tabled. If they don't we have the right to strike and to proceed with arbitration on the 12th of August 2009.

If you have any questions, please post it here under comments, and I will answer it as soon as possible.

Strike at Lotus FM suspended for 7 days

The strike at Lotus FM has been suspended for seven (7) working days to afford the SABC the opportunity to look into the allegations against the station manager.

98% of employees at Lotus FM were on strike yesterday. If 98% of SABC Staff nationally embark on a strike in respect of salaries, the strike will also be over in only one day.

More to follow...

Lies and cover-up

In a media statement released by the SABC they alleged Ms Samuels of Lotus FM pleaded guilty to misconduct her managers have committed.

There is only one manager reporting to Ms. Samuels.

Yesterday he confronted Ms. Samuels about this statement. She denied that she has made this claim.

The SABC thus lied in their media release and they covered-up for Ms. Samuels.

The manager, our member will institute a grievance against the SABC media spokesperson today.

Did we sign?

BEMAWU did NOT sign a new agreement with the SABC. Therefore, a strike is NOT off, until we have signed a new agreement.

We did not agree to an 8.5% increase. We are prepared to sign an agreement of 8.5% immediately, and negotiate on the implementation of the 1.5% committed to by the Acting GCEO. This is a 10% increase.

We have an in principle agreement with the Chairperson of the Board that we will sign an agreement with the SABC that would enable us to negotiate a further increase in respect of the remaining 2.2%.

BEMAWU did not abandon our right to the 12.2% as the other two unions did. We have maintained that there is an agreement of 12.2% and we have an arbitration date set for 12 August 2009. Should the SABC not settle with us before the time, we will proceed with arbitration and ask for the full 12.2%.

To be able to proceed with industrial action, the other two unions had to tell the Commissioner at the CCMA that they abandon their member's right to the 12.2% increase. Only BEMAWU members may claim that right of 12.2% at this point in time.

As the Plant Secretary of CWU has said "I did not agree at the time to abandon our member's right to 12.2%, but I was outvoted." It's called democracy, comrade. Question is, did the members understood what they voted for?

We hope to meet with the SABC as soon as possible to conclude an agreement. In the meantime the strike at Lotus FM continues, and we are calling on BEMAWU members in KZN and other regions to join.

This is a fight against bad management and fruitless and wastefull expenditure. This is a fight for the right to not be victimised when you blow the whistle on irregularities.