Times Of Swaziland: Mhlaleni Caltex workers fighting for back pay

Mhlaleni Caltex workers fighting for back pay
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 WELCOME DLAMINI on 07/01/2012 00:00:00


MATSAPHA – Petrol atten dants at the busy Mhlaleni Caltex filling station are
engaged in a bitter war with the garage’s management over back pay.
While the attendants, who are 18 in number, claim that the back pay dates as far
as 2007, management insists that the outstanding amount is from March to August
2011.
However, even though management acknowledges the March to August outstanding
amount, it has not processed such payments to the attendants. "When we try and
speak to management about the back pay, we get threats and are told that if
we’re not satisfied with what we’re getting then we should quit," one
employee alleged to the Swazi News.
Gazette
The attendants are demanding the back pay following a government gazette dated
April 2011, but effective March 1, 2011, that places the Mhlaleni Caltex filling
station under ‘urban area’ and therefore has increased their remuneration.
The gazette is the ‘Regulation of Wages (Retail, Hairdressing, Wholesale and
Distributive Trades Industry) Order of 2011.
Since 2007, the filling station was not placed under ‘urban area’ but
‘other areas’ which saw the attendants’ salaries lower than what the new
gazette stipulates.
Now that the new gazette places the filling station under ‘urban area’, the
attendants believe they should be paid back the difference beginning from 2007
when some of them were employed.
Director of the filling station Maxwell Dlamini, in an interview yesterday, said
the attendants’ claims were unrealistic.
"I don’t deny that the employees are owed back pay but it is not for the
period that they claim. The gazette is with effect from March 1, 2011, so that
is the period the back pay should begin. I only got to know of the new gazette
in September last year and from that month I began paying the attendants the
fees for ‘urban area’. So, what I have to do now is pay them the balance
that was not included in their March to August salaries," Dlamini said.
Wrong
He said the attendants were wrong to demand back pay as far as 2007 because
throughout these years he had been paying them the gazetted amount for the
category of ‘other areas’ as specified.
In 2007, the attendants were paid, according to a 2006 government gazette, a
monthly salary of E872 for ‘other area’ and they claim they should have been
paid E1 016 which is for ‘urban area’.
A 2009 gazette then increased the monthly pay for ‘other area’ to E924.32
while for ‘urban area’ it was increased to E1 076.96, which is what the
attendants say they should have been getting.
The latest (2011) gazette has placed the monthly salary for ‘other area’ at
E1 035.23 and increased the pay for ‘urban area’ to E1 206.19, which is what
the attendants are now getting after the filling station was included under the
‘urban area’ category.
"What the attendants don’t seem to understand is that all along the filling
station was not included as being in an urban area something that then placed it
under the category of ‘other area’ until now that the new gazette has
included it," Dlamini, the garage boss, said.
Indeed, the 2006 and 2009 gazettes did not include Mhlaleni under the list of
areas falling within an urban area hence it was classified under ‘other
area’. "I guess this was because there was no (economic) activity in the area
until recently," Dlamini added.
Demand protective clothing and milk
MATSAPHA – The Mhlaleni Caltex filling station petrol attendants want
management to provide them with protective clothing and milk.
The milk, the attendants say, is for them to drink after work so as to
‘clean’ their chests following that they inhale fuel fumes on a daily basis.
However, Director Maxwell Dlamini says this is unheard off: "Having worked in
this industry for many years’ I’ve never heard of such a complaint. This is
news to me. No filling station anywhere has such a provision. This makes me
conclude that the attendants are spoiled, they even want things that are out of
reach."
...we are in a bad financial position -management
MATSAPHA – Management of Mhlaleni Caltex filling station says it is presently
in a bad financial position to be able to process the backpay of its petrol
attendants.
Director Maxwell Dlamini has since called upon the attendants to exercise
patience while the filling station tries to stabilise, financially.
He however insisted that the back pay would only be for the months of March to
August, not beginning from 2007.
"When I spoke to the attendants in September last year I told them finances were
not permitting and therefore would only pay them at a later date. Again we
engaged each other in December and I told them that business had not been good
because there was shortage of fuel in Caltex garages," Dlamini said.
Continuing, he said: "I told them that I know I owe them their back pay. Some
understood but others seemed not to which is why I’m not surprised that they
have run to the media."
They want to be given transport
MATSAPHA – Besides demanding back pay, the Mhlaleni Caltex filling station
petrol attendants also complain about the lack of transport to and from work.
"Labour laws stipulate that workers must be provided with transport when their
shift begins at 6am or at 10pm. But we’re not provided with such and some have
been attacked by thugs on their way to and from work because they have to travel
alone in the dark," one employee alleged.
The garage’s Director Maxwell Dlamini agreed that there was no transport
provided for the staff who started their shift at 6am..
He, however, provided proof that there was transport that ferried the 10pm shift
staff. "I was not aware that I also have to provide the 6am staff with
transport," Dlamini said.