Determining the True Reason for an Alleged Section 187(1)(c) Dismissal: A Discussion of National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa v Aveng Trident Steel (a Division of Aveng Africa (Pty) Ltd) (2021) 42 ILJ 67 (CC)

On 27 October 2020, the Constitutional Court handed down judgment in National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa v Aveng Trident Steel (A Division of Aveng Africa (Pty) Ltd) 2021 42 ILJ 67 (CC). Following the judgment, it is now commonplace that the amendment to section 187(1)(c) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 does not preclude an employer from dismissing employees for a permissible reason, such as its operational requirements, should they refuse to accept a demand. The court confirmed that in cases such as this where they are faced with two opposing reasons for the dismissal, an impermissible reason on the one hand and a permissible reason on the other, an enquiry must be conducted into what the true reason for the dismissal is. However, the approach to be followed in conducting this enquiry caused dissent. Half of the judges were of the view that the correct approach is to follow the causation test set out in SA Chemical Workers Union v Afrox Ltd 1999 20 ILJ 1718 (LAC), while the other half disavowed reliance on the causation test. Instead, they opted to support the enquiry conducted in Chemical Workers Industrial Union v Algorax (Pty) Ltd 2003 24 ILJ 1917 (LAC). This case note seeks to establish which approach should be followed in determining the true reason for an alleged section 187(1)(c) automatically unfair dismissal.

SUBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT OF HEALTH RISK FACTORS BY CHEMICAL WORKERS PRODUCTIONS

The results of the study of the assessment of factors that can adversely affect health by the workers of chemical production in the Republic of Belarus are considered. The analysis of subjective assessments is carried out. Further analytical research is justified.

Features of mental deadaptation formation in powder production workers

Objective. The aim was to assess the impact of production and non-production risk factors on the formation of mental health disorders in chemical workers. Materials and methods. 201 employees of the main and 352 employees of the group of control were examined by a clinical method using a clinical structured psychiatric interview; questionnaires to identify additional non-production risk factors; questionnaire of neurotization. The calculations were carried out in the environment of the statistical system R. For modeling dependencies and calculating probabilities, logistic regression models were built, factor analysis was carried out. Results. The dependence of the formation of prenosological mental disorders in workers on the temporal characteristics, the level of material support and the actual production factors was revealed. The proportion of persons with mental deadaptation MD) in the main group 72.5 %) and the group of control 27.5 %) significantly differ from each other p 0.001). Conclusions. 1. The structure and the actual risk of MD formation among workers in the production of gunpowder is determined by harmful labor factors, depends on economic security, evolves depending on time characteristics. 2. For persons working under the influence of a chemical factor of the production environment in combination with explosive and fire hazardous works, the leading is astheno-vegetative symptomatology in combination with the personality type of conversion reaction. In the first 9 years of experience, general neurotic reactions are observed with a pronounced contribution from all scales, indicating the tension of adaptation mechanisms up to the formation of decompensation. With an increase in the length of time, the reactions are transformed into a conversion type of response according to the somato-vegetative type with a phobic radical and obsessions, and subsequently manifest themselves in relative independence from characterological reactions. 3. The degree of severity of reactions is characterized by variability, significantly overlapping the types of disorders that can be considered in the framework of Other mood disorders F38.0 and F38.1), which does not give grounds to classify them as F30-F34, since they are not sufficiently pronounced and severe.

Mental health of chemical workers: violation risk factors

Aim. To study the structure of psychosocial maladjustment in chemical workers and assess the contribution of industrial and non-industrial risk factors in the formation of mental illness. Methods. It was analysed of hygienic assessment of the leading harmful production factors chemical, physical, factors of severity and intensity of labor. During the periodic medical examination, the mental health status of 1,226 people was examined, with a focus on professional experience, mental hygiene aspects of production factors, as well as individual and personal characteristics of employees. Confidence intervals and standard errors estimating, the logistic regression models fitting were performed using R Statistical Software with significance level 0.05. Results. The working environment hazards in organic synthesis included chemical risk factor, continuous noise exceeding the permissible exposure limit, emotional stress and life-threatening conditions (fire and explosion hazards in the work). The general assessment of working conditions was performed using clauses 5.15.11 P 2.2.2006-05-harmful working conditions of the second-third degree (3.23.3). Working conditions at all stages of the manufacturing process of pyroxylin powders were assessed as harmful to the third-fourth degree (3.33.4), including the chemical factor, the severity and intensity of work, fire and explosion hazards in the work. It was revealed the dependence of the development of psychosocial maladjustment on non-work-related factors (such as the level of education, marital status), conditional work-related factors (level of material security). Also, the dependence of the structure of pre-existing mental health condition on the work-related and developmental characteristics (work experience) of labor in chemical production was found. Conclusion. Working conditions in the studied industries correspond to the 3rd harmful class, 2nd and 3rd degrees in the production of organic synthesis (3.23.3), while at the production of pyroxylic powders, it is close to dangerous (3.33.4); the structure and risk of the developmental process of employee maladjustment are determined by the feature effect of workplace hazards.

Dangerous Exposures: Visualizing Work and Waste in the Victorian Chemical Trades

Cheshire, Britain, and the towns of Widnes and St. Helens, where many of the world's first chemical factories and towns were created in the nineteenth century, is an especially important place to study historical responses to industrial pollution and its social costs. This paper, based on newly recovered archival sources about the Victorian alkali industry, explores the role of visual imagery, particularly drawings and lantern slides, in materializing the connection between labor in chemical trades, the disposal of waste, and poor health outcomes for diverse communities in the late nineteenth century. The paper will focus on the writer Robert Sherard's article “White Slaves of England” (1897), a work that, more than many of its time, drew national attention to the plight of nineteenth-century chemical workers by pictorializing the ways that work in heavy chemical industries, many of them involving waste and its disposal, affected individual workers and their lives. The paper concludes with critical reflections on the current state of scholarship on images, waste, and labor, areas for more needed work, and paths forward.

WORKING CONDITIONS AND SPECIFIC FEATURES OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE NERVOUS AND MUSCULOSKELETAL SYSTEMS DISEASES IN WORKERS OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

Harmful factors of the work environment and work process of the manufacture of rubber and continuous optical fiber are related to increased prevalence of nervous and musculoskeletal diseases in chemical workers. The contact with solvents in glue workers contributes to a high prevalence of polyneuropathy of the upper extremities. Severity of the work process with Class 3.3 in spreading machine operators revealed increased prevalence of muscoloskeletal diseases (56,8 %). Raising arms over the shoulder girdle during the work shift causes the development of dorsophathies in almost one third of operators of the continuous optical fiber.

Labor-Management Cooperation in Illinois: How a Joint Union Company Team Is Improving Facility Safety

This study of Afton Chemical Corporation’s Sauget facility and its International Chemical Workers Union Council (ICWUC) Local 871C demonstrates how significant safety improvements can be made when committed leadership from both management and union work together, build trust, train the entire work force in U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration 10-hour classes, and communicate with their work force, both salaried and hourly. A key finding is that listening to the workers closest to production can lead to solutions, many of them more cost-efficient than top-down decision-making. Another is that making safety and health an authentic value is hard work, requiring time, money, and commitment. Third, union and management must both have leadership willing to take chances and learn to trust one another. Fourth, training must be for everyone and ongoing. Finally, health and safety improvements require dedicated funding. The result was resolution of more than one hundred safety concerns and an ongoing institutionalized process for continuing improvement.