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THE NATIONAL Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) will march from the Kemo Hotel to the Premier’s Office next week to protest against non-compliant security companies as part of the national security march that will be held on April 19.
Numsa had to intervene when members employed at airports in Kimberley, Upington and Bloemfontein were not paid last month.
A list of 24 security companies operating in the Northern Cape that are allegedly not complying with the labour laws, including the non-payment of provident funds, medical scheme payments, unemployment insurance fund and tax compliance, will be handed over to the premier for investigation.
Numsa local organiser Mamello Gasa pointed out that the majority of these security companies, which are providing services to government departments, are based outside of the Province.
“Service providers are repeatedly being awarded tenders despite not complying with the regulations,” said Gasa.
She indicated that over 1,000 Numsa members, as well as members from the affiliate unions of the South African Federation of Trade Unions, the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, the National Union of Public Servants and Allied Workers and the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party, would participate in the march in Kimberley on April 19.
“We represent members in the Northern Cape as well as parts of the Free State and North West.”
Gasa added that they had lodged complaints with the Department of Labour, where a non-compliance notice was served on Venus Security International, which provides security services to the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa).
“Workers employed at airports in the Northern Cape, Free State and North West were not paid maternity benefits and had to survive without an income after giving birth.”
Gasa indicated that there were 200 security personnel who received late salary payments in March.
In correspondence with Acsa, Numsa on April 4 requested that employees be immediately paid as they were unsuccessful in engaging with the employer for the prompt processing of salaries.
“Our members have been meticulously rendering services on your premises, yet have to struggle with receiving their wages. This matter causes financial hardships to workers. We request you to fully state challenges triggering the continuous non-payments of employees’ salaries from both Acsa and Venus International.
“Apart from known contractual obligations, both entities ought to be fully aware of what impact this has on employees.”
Gasa stated that the employer had informed them that Acsa owed them R2 million and that they were forced to obtain an overdraft in order to pay salaries in March.
“We foresee that this will become a regular occurrence where employees are not paid as the contract will come to an end on April 30.”
She added that workers were eventually paid on April 7.
“They were supposed to be paid on March 31, while bonuses are still outstanding. Workers were not supplied with uniforms and had to purchase their own.”
The CEO of Venus Security International, Hendrick Kekana, pointed out that it was “not out of the ordinary” in South Africa to not receive salaries on time.
“It is not a train smash. Workers signed contracts where they were advised that salaries could be delayed at times. This occurs when clients do not pay us on time,” said Kekana.
“We do not want to blame anyone. We had a contingency plan where we managed to pay our workers four working days later than scheduled, due to cash flow problems. We do not anticipate that this will happen again.”
He added that they were informed that their contract with Acsa had been extended until September.
“We have a very good relationship with our employees and we commend them for not embarking on any strike action. We were not able to provide uniforms as we were not certain whether our contract would be extended. We will reimburse workers for any uniforms purchased.”
Kekana indicated that in the event that their contract was not renewed, workers would not be left jobless.
“Hard-working employees who are reliable and have completed all training will be sent to other sites or will be absorbed by the new service provider.”
He claimed that his company was fully compliant with all labour requirements.
“The only thing is that we are in the process of sourcing an alternative provident fund. Therefore no deductions have been made from employees’ salaries and no provident payments were processed. Currently, the Private Security Services Provident Fund is the only provident fund that exists in the security industry.”
He said that the compliance notice that was issued by the Department of Labour had been “dealt with”.
Acsa did not respond to media enquiries by the time of going to print.