Action could bring country’s supply chain to a halt

The South African supply chain is braced for strike action by truck drivers, as their unions meet to discuss wage negotiations with employers.

Four leading drivers’ unions are holding meetings with their members this week to discuss wage demands and terms of employment before showdown talks with the Road Freight Employers Association (RFEA).

The SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU), Motor Transport Workers Union (MTWU), Professional Transport Workers Union (PTWU) and Transport and Allied Workers Union of SA (TAWUSA) are seeking a mandate to strike.

Given the go-ahead for strikes, the unions would only need to give employers 48-hours’ notice of any industrial action.

IFW understands the unions are calling for wage increases of 20% over the next two years, and will also ask for a housing allowance, reduced overtime and reduced working hours for certain members of staff, as well as a ban on labour brokers in the industry.

They have, however, indicated that they are willing to negotiate on the wage demands, but RFEA has only offered a 7.5% increase in 2011 and a second 7.5% increase in 2012.

RFEA employs about 65,000 people, 51% of whom are members of the four unions.

Commentators have suggested that an all-out strike would bring the country’s supply chain to a halt.

The four unions negotiate with RFEA through the National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry, and the two sides have been in deadlock since December.

The unions initially announcing they planned to strike in the middle of last month, but action was put on hold to allow negotiations to continue.

The MTWU said that non-members could also join in the strike action.

Are the South African unions right to strike?
Write to the Editor at kizzi.nkwocha@informa.com

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AFRICA ECONOMIC FORUM: Plenaries: Agenda – In-Depth, Insight, Insider Rich-Content: on Africa’s Future

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Liesl Venter

FTW Online ftwonewsletters@nowmedia.co.za

In fact, employees and managers of most any business are already communicating with each other through various Web 2.0 technologies — the problem being that all of this communication is taking place outside the bounds of formal and secure IT systems.

While some business software companies work to integrate their offerings directly with online tools like Twitter or Facebook, the real business benefits will come from enterprise resources planning and other enterprise software that mimics the functionality of these popular online tools. This serves to improve internal communication and pull company business currently taking place outside of ERP systems back into the enterprise.

Read Full Article

“Is social media a fad or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution?” asks Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics. Consider these statistics he presents, and my analysis of them, and then decide how connected you should be. Hint: Your company website alone is no longer enough!

As of 2010, Generation Y — those born between 1980 and 2000 — outnumbers baby boomers. And 96 percent of them have joined a social network! There was no initiation, no dues, no recommendations. Just a few taps on the keyboard and voila! Instant connection to friends and family, immediate information sharing, finding the kid who sat next to you in kindergarten story-time.

As technology improves and changes, it also changes the way we live. It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million users. It took TV 13 years, the internet four years and iPod just three years.

Perhaps the star of the social media show is Facebook, which added 100 million users in just nine months and now has over 500 million users. Not bad for a company that began in a dorm room. If Facebook were a country, it would have the third largest population behind only China and India. The fastest growing segment of Facebook is women ages 55-65. (The jury is still out on how many of those women’s children have accepted a “friend” request from their mothers.)

We no longer search for the news; the news finds us. More than 1.5 million pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) are shared on Facebook daily. In the near future we will no longer search for products and services. They will find us via social media.

One out of eight couples married in the United States last year met via social media.

Generation Y and Z — the youngest techies, born after 1995 — consider e-mail passé. In 2009, Boston College stopped distributing email addresses to incoming freshmen.

For those who prefer their communications in 140 characters or less, a Twitter account is a must. Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGeneres have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of Ireland, Norway and Panama. Approximately 80 percent of Twitter usage is on mobile devices people update anywhere and anytime. The apps for Black Friday sales changed the way shoppers planned their retail strategy. On the downside, imagine what an unfavourable tweet means for bad customer experiences.

As a business person, I often wonder how we functioned before LinkedIn. One of the most remarkable employment statistics I discovered while researching my last book, Use Your Head To Get Your Foot in the Door, is that 80 percent of companies are using LinkedIn as their primary tool to find employees.

Remember the advertising slogan “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?” That’s a little misleading, because it also stays on Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, My Space, YouTube or any other social media you use.

YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. It contains 100 million videos and receives two billion viewers each day. Wikipedia has over 13 million articles. A whopping 70 percent of 18 to 34-year-olds have watched TV on the web, while only 33 percent have ever viewed a show on DVR or TiVo. And 25 percent have watched a video on their phones in the last month. With a growing number of e-readers, 35 percent of book sales on amazon are for the Kindle. Some publishers estimate that eBook sales will reach 50 percent in the next five years.

There are over 200 million blogs, and 54 percent of bloggers post content or tweet daily. Without knowing who or what organization is actually behind the blog, here are some facts to consider:
• 34 percent of bloggers post opinions about products or brands.
• 78 percent of consumers trust peer recommendations.
• Only 14 percent trust advertising.
Perhaps the most astonishing fact of all is that social media have overtaken porn as the number one activity on the web.

Successful companies in social media have learned the importance of listening first and selling second. Qualman says, “They act more like party planners, aggregators, and content providers than traditional advertisers.”

Social media represent a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. To stay current — and competitive — in business, don’t be a “twit.” Put on your best “face” and “link” into these tremendous opportunities.

Mackay’s Moral: If you want to have the world at your fingertips, brush up on your “social” skills.

TWO WOLVES

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all:-
One is Evil – It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is Good – It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”
The old Cherokee replied, “The one you feed.”