Times Of Swaziland: LABOUR MINISTER’S VISIT: RUCHI WORKERS MAKE STARTLING CLAIMS

LABOUR MINISTER’S VISIT: RUCHI WORKERS MAKE STARTLING CLAIMS
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Sibusiso Zwane on 05/05/2023 07:41:00


MATSAPHA – Workers at Ruchi Wholesalers in Matsapha made startling claims to
the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Phila Buthelezi and his team of
labour experts.
The minister and his team, which comprised of Labour Commissioner Mthunzi
Shabangu and Assistant Labour Commissioner Fannie Mkhonta, among others, paid
courtesy visits to two companies at Matsapha Industrial Site; Pit Bull Security
Protection and Ruchi Wholesalers. The main aim of the courtesy visit was to get
first-hand information on the obtaining situation in the companies, as the
ministry was receiving a number of complaints on them from the media.
At Ruchi Wholesalers, the minister first met with the management and when it was
the workers’ turn, they said the wages they earned were too little. They even
suspected that they were paid below the gazetted minimum wage. As such, they
said they robbed Peter to pay Paul by negotiating with public transport workers
every day to accept what they had, instead of the E10 fare for short distance.
They informed the minister that some of them had been with the company for at
least four years, while others had worked for it for over a decade, but they
were still employed on contracts - which ranged between three and six months.
Expires
They alleged that when the contract expired, the employer served them with a
letter that informed them to go on ‘leave’ for seven days and if their
contracts would be renewed they would be recalled. They claimed that if a worker
was not recalled within the seven days, it meant they had lost their job.
“Minister, this means that even those who have worked for the company for over
a decade under this arrangement, will go home with nothing (no package),” the
workers said.
They added that the contracts of three to six months did not allow them to
develop their lives. For example, they said they had started their own families
but could not build homes, as they did not qualify for mortgages. After that,
they informed the minister that they allegedly worked every day, including on
holidays. They claimed that on Sundays, they were supposed to work half-day, but
at times they worked more hours and had difficulties claiming overtime.
“The holidays and Sundays are paid as normal hours,” they claimed.
Again, they alleged that when the issue of working on holidays and Sundays
started, the agreement was that workers would voluntarily come, but later on, it
became compulsory - but they were given two Sundays off per month.
“So, if we want to go home, we have to absent ourselves on Saturday so that we
can travel to our families and come back on Sunday to prepare for work on
Monday. We do this even though it affects our salaries at the end of the
month,” the workers claimed. They further told the minister that if they
forgot to clock out when knocking off, they would be recorded as absent and
money would be deducted from their salaries. On workwear, they alleged that
females were given only t-shirts, while males got safety shoes on top of the
t-shirts.
“We have to wear our own pants, jerseys and jackets, yet we do not afford to
buy clothes now and then because of the low wages we are earning,” they said.
They also claimed that they were ill-treated and shouted at in front of
customers, among other things. In response, the Labour Commissioner, Shabangu,
said they would send a team of inspectors to the company to conduct a labour
inspection. Otherwise, he said on other issues, like that of allegedly being
paid below the gazette, they should buy it and present it to the employer.
However, they highlighted that they did not even have a committee that could
meet management on their behalf.
Again, the labour commissioner said the issue of contracts would be addressed by
the Employment Bill, which they hoped would be promulgated into law soon.
Meanwhile, the minister said he was disappointed that some employers took
advantage of the old Employment Act and workers went home with nothing after
retirement because they had been working on contracts. After that, he said the
issue of low wages was being addressed by the wages council as it had been given
a mandate to review the minimum wage with the aim of improving it to a
reasonable amount.