Question 1:

Who Loses, Who Gains?

The 4th Industrial Revolution created a demand for new jobs while eliminating some of the jobs highlighted in the above reports. In the short term, mankind will face a great challenge and the jobless will soar. As the research of Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee from the MIT Sloan School of Management, starting around 2011, technology has fuelled productivity but not fuelled job growth—quite the opposite. McAfee and Brynjolfsson indicate that part of the reason is that our skills aren’t keeping up with technological advances. However, people should not be too pessimistic because, in the long run, the 4th Industrial Revolution will create more wealth and additional jobs elsewhere in the economy and the number of new jobs will grow dramatically. Due to the difficulties for some people to adapt to the new job requirements and master new job skills, the real problem that people are facing is structural unemployment, not lack of job opportunities. Who loses? Firstly, the jobs that are most at risk are those which “are on some level routine, repetitive and predictable”, as Martin Ford, futurist and author of Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future explains, because they are possible to replicate through Machine Learning algorithms. Richard Johnston from Ulster University’s Economic Policy Centre said: “Sectors like manufacturing, logistics and retail and wholesale and some of the lower skilled occupations within are the most vulnerable to being replaced by some technology or machinery or robots.” For any business owner, the pursuit of profit maximization is the most important goal and reducing cost is an important factor to consider. No matter how low people’s wages are they’ll never be able to compete with the robots and machines, no salary, no break and no illness. Machines are better at the job: The National Institute of Standards predicts that “machine learning can improve production capacity by up to 20%” and reduce raw materials waste by 4%. Many highly routine occupations are being replaced today. Telemarketing, for example, which ranks first according to The Future of Employment report, has a 99% probability of automation. The vast majority of people have received irritating robocalls. Library technicians, whose responsibilities are compiling records, sorting and shelving books, removing or repairing damaged books, registering patrons, and checking materials in and out of the circulation process, also have a 99% probability of automation. These things can be solved by existing technologies, like Amazon’s fulfilment centres where people work with carefully coordinated robotic machines. Previously, Amazon workers walked around shelves looking for products, but now robotic shelves rearrange themselves to bring products to the worker. These sorting 12 techniques will also be used for book sorting, which will save a lot of manpower and provide additional efficiencies.

Describe the four types of market flexibility and explain how each can be applied under the Industry 4.0 situation in the case study. (20)
Discuss by also referring to the case study, the question “Is South African unemployment a function of a lack of sufficiently skilled labour?” (20)

Question 2:

Grievances and Discipline

Mncedi Samuel Mkokeli (Mkokeli) was dismissed for reasons related to conduct. However, Mkokeli chose to allege a proscribed reason for his dismissal. As it shall become apparent later in this judgment, this description of the dispute is key for reasons related to the exercise of jurisdictional power. This dispute came before Court by way of a referral in terms of rule 6 of the Labour Court Rules. Due to the travel restrictions imposed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the entire trial was conducted virtually. Most, if not all, the witnesses of the respondent are in outlying places and could not travel to the Labour Court for a physical hearing. On the eve of the trial, Mkokeli sought to amend the statement of case in order to insert as an action he took the referral of a dispute alleging an unfair labour practice. The Respondent, Bloomberg L P (Pty) Ltd (Bloomberg) objected to the proposed amendment. After delivering an ex tempore judgment, this Court made an order allowing the proposed amendment.
Background facts and evidence.

[2] Mkokeli was employed by Bloomberg as a Senior Reporter. Bloomberg is an external company registered as such in South Africa. It forms part of the Bloomberg group of companies and is a global provider of business and market news, data, analysis, and video, featuring stories from BusinessWeek and Bloomberg News. It has newsrooms throughout the world, including in Johannesburg. Mkokeli was employed effective 20 June 2016. He was dismissed on 1 March 2019 after a disciplinary enquiry into allegations of misconduct. Prior to his dismissal, in September 2018, Mkokeli lodged an internal grievance against his

managers. After an investigation of the grievance, on 22 October 2018, a finding was made in respect of the grievance. On 3 December 2018, allegations of misconduct relating to the breach of Bloomberg’s social media policy were placed before Mkokeli. After affording him an audi alteram partem, on 14 December 2018, Mkokeli received a written warning as a sanction for his alleged eccentric behaviour.
[3] Yet again, Mkokeli allegedly breached the social media policy on 10 December 2018. He was disciplined for this conduct and was issued with a final written warning on 24 December 2018. Aggrieved by the warnings, Mkokeli referred a dispute to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) alleging an unfair labour practice. On 15 October 2019, an arbitration award was issued dismissing Mkokeli’s claim for an unfair labour practice. The arbitration award is a subject of a review application pending in this Court.
[4] Prior to the issuance of the impugned arbitration award, on 21 January 2019, Mkokeli was hauled before a disciplinary enquiry to answer to three allegations of misconduct. At the disciplinary hearing which spanned two days, Mkokeli was found guilty as charged. As an aftermath, on 1 March 2019, Mkokeli was dismissed. On 5 March 2019, Mkokeli referred an unfair dismissal dispute to the CCMA and alleged that his dismissal was procedurally unfair in that the chairperson was not impartial and that it was also substantively unfair because Bloomberg dismissed him for no reason. On 28 March 2019, a certificate was issued certifying that the dismissal for unknown reasons remained unresolved. The conciliating commissioner directed that the dispute be resolved through arbitration within the contemplation of section 191 (5) (a) (iii) of the Labour Relations Act1.
[5] For some unknown reasons, instead of proceeding to arbitration, Mkokeli chose to refer a dispute for adjudication and alleged that his dismissal is related to the grievance he lodged against Bloomberg relating to the lack of diversity and discrimination of black people within Bloomberg. For that reason, he alleged that his dismissal is automatically unfair because it is linked to his grievance. In the

Draft a labour relations policy to assist the company that is mentioned in the case study. Use as a guideline “the steps of the process of drafting and implementing policy” and refer specifically to “what the labour relations policy should include”. (20)
Discuss in detail the approaches to discipline. Also, identify and motivate the approach you will prefer to use in the case study   (20)

Answers to Above Questions on Advanced Labour Relations

Answer 1: The four types of market flexibilities are numeral, functional, financial and temporal flexibility.

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