We are pleased to advise you that Romney Soar has joined the TTA Office, on a volunteer basis, to assist us to coordinate, channel, respond to, and disseminate information speedily during this pandemic.

Many of you may know Romney from his previous tenure with Menlyn Boutique Hotel as Deputy GM. We welcome Romney to the Team@TTA and thank him for his proactive generosity in donating his time to assist TTA members and our broader tourism community during this difficult time.

We have added Romney to the various WhatsApp groups and Telegram. Romney’s cell number is +27 (0)83 261 8026 and his email address is info@tshwanetourism.com.

The TTA COVID-19 webpage has been created to assist tourism businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions as well as during the transition to different levels of lockdown.

At this time of adaptation and change, the TTA COVID-19 webpage is updated as verified information becomes available and, you are encouraged to visit the webpage regularly for updates and to find useful information.

TBAC SA is a South African distributor of premium personal care and hygiene solutions. Our network includes partners in each of the provinces and our supply chain allows us to service small, medium and large customers across the country.

Our manufacturing partners are based in Johannesburg and are both ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 22716:2007 certified. TBAC SA is BEE level 3 company.

Protection on the way to and from work
Our hand sanitising gel is available in 40ml (70% alcohol pouring gel), 50ml (70.0% alcohol gel) and 125ml (70% alcohol pouring gel). Sanitising gel is a great option for people on the move who carry a sanitiser with them. Our 50ml gel has been extremely popular, especially with customers who do not wish to pump communal dispensers. Many of our customers couple this with a 5/25Lt bulk product to refill the containers.

Protection in the workplace
Our alcohol rub has a 70% alcohol level and contains tea tree oil which is an ideal natural hand sanitiser. This product is available in 500ml, 1L spray, 5L and 25L containers. Many of our customers have opted to use this product as a dual purpose product as it has passed the criteria for SANS 490 and SANS 51276. The 1L can be deployed at entrances, pay points and common areas where the spray can be applied to the hands of staff and customers as a sanitiser. The same spray can be applied to surfaces after customer interaction to quickly sanitise the surface. The versatility of this product makes it the ideal solution for people looking for a sanitiser with a 99.99% kill rate that can be used to sanitise hands as well as surfaces. Perfect for company and hotel receptions, convenience stores, factories, shopping centres, schools and any location where people interact with customers over a surface.

Keep surfaces disinfected
Our pine oil disinfectant is 70% alcohol and contains pine oil which is a natural spray and wipe disinfectant. Pine oil makes the perfect surface spray as it leaves no residue when applied with a cloth or a tissue on surfaces like computer screens or cell phone screens and it is an excellent furniture and appliance disinfectant. This product is available in 500ml trigger spray, 5L and 25L bulk containers. Our pine oil spray is a quick, simple and highly effective surface cleaner and sanitiser. An excellent option for restaurant tables, fast food and coffee counters, call centre surfaces and sanitising key pads before and after use.

Visit our website, call +27 (0)60 949 0577 or email mm@tbac.co.za.

by Louise Botha, SIG Labour Specialists

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed immense strain on businesses, as government lockdown and movement control make it cumbersome to secure new business or continue with ongoing projects. Many businesses in South Africa are facing financial difficulties, which have been exacerbated as the pandemic continues, and a natural consideration is whether cost-cutting measures, such as retrenchments or lay-offs may be legally undertaken.

May employers resort to retrenchment due to the COVID-19 outbreak?

Retrenchment is a form of dismissal due to no fault of the employee. It is a process whereby the employer reviews its business needs to mitigate losses by reducing the size of its staff component. If a company is facing legitimate financial difficulties because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has prima facie grounds to reduce its workforce and to retrench certain employees.

Before embarking on the retrenchment process, employers must first exhaust other means, before opting to retrench employees. Suitable alternative considerations include reducing working hours, limiting the hiring of new employees, reducing or limiting overtime, reducing employees’ wages or entering into a temporarily lay-off agreement with employees.

While salary reduction is one of the recommended steps to be taken to avoid retrenchment, it is advisable that the consent of the employees be obtained for any reduction in salary or working hours. A salary reduction may be viewed as a unilateral change of the employees’ terms of employment, if such reduction was undertaken without the express consent of the affected employees.

In this regard, employers should communicate transparently with their employees about the reason for the salary reduction and explain that this is an attempt to prevent more drastic action, such as a retrenchment. An employer may also want to consider a corresponding reduction in working hours to justify the salary reduction.

It is strongly recommended that employees first be consulted regarding any anticipated reduction in salary, and where unionised employees are involved, such consultation should include unions involved.

We at SIG Labour Specialists are willing to assist all employers with all labour-related matters, including the facilitation of retrenchment consultations, short-time consultations, salary reduction consultations and any related matter.

For more information, please call +27 (0)12 362 1427 or email admin@siglabour.co.za.

Is your business COVID-19 compliant? If you’re starting to cast your mind to employees returning to their workplace, then you’re probably thinking about safety and compliance. Summit take the guesswork out of this process with our new COVID Business Continuity Toolkit.

For a once-off fee you receive:

• Standard operating procedure templates
• Posters
• Policy
• Risk assessment
• Self-audit checklist
• Visitor information form
• Procedure for medical screening
• COIDA reporting procedure

There are online training programmes available to support your readiness toolkit.

Visit our website, call +27 (0)12 942 5781 / 72 768 4522 or email rickh@reachsummit.co.za.