Times Of Swaziland: DRAMA AS TEXTILE WORKERS  DEMAND PAY

DRAMA AS TEXTILE WORKERS  DEMAND PAY
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Sibusiso Zwane on 07/02/2024 15:23:00


MATSAPHA – There was drama at Chinese Cargo Investments (textile factory) as
workers demanded their salary from their employer.
Chinese Cargo Investments is located at Matsapha Industrial Site and employs
about 200 emaSwati. According to the aggrieved workers, they were currently on
what they termed informal layoff as some of them were verbally informed not to
come to work last Monday, while others last reported to work on Tuesday. They
said they were told that the company would recall them when it received orders.
They said their payday was on Friday, but they were not paid.  Following that
they did not receive their salaries last Friday, they reported for work on
Monday with the aim of meeting the employer over their salaries.
Audience
They said they waited for the employer by the gate and when he attempted  to
exit the factory, they closed the gate and demanded to have an audience with
him. However, they claimed that he refused and called some of the supervisors to
remove them from the gate. After leaving the factory, they alleged that the
management team told them that the employer had ordered them to write letters
which the workers would submit to their landlords. In the letters, the
management apologised to the landlords for the inconvenience as it had failed to
pay its employees their salaries. It said it would pay them on Friday, February
9, 2024. However, the workers who were found picketing in the company premises,
said their landlords did not want letters, but money. They said their fear was
that they might lock them out of their houses. They alleged that this was not
the first time that the company delayed paying their salaries and would now
approach the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to look into their concerns.
They claimed that the company was allegedly not remitting their monies to
Eswatini National Provident Fund (ENPF) and that it was purportedly not paying
them overtime for working on weekends.
Meanwhile, efforts of getting a comment from the employer proved futile as he
was constantly reported to be out of the office. Later on, the cellphone of the
officer who promised to connect this publication to the employer rang
unanswered. The last call was made at 6:30pm on Monday. Again, this publication
contacted the Human Resources Officer Mandla Mdluli, but his mobile phone rang
unanswered for the better part of yesterday afternoon. Another officer from the
company, whose number was written on the letters which were meant for the
landlords, said he could only talk about the matter to the landlords, not the
media.
Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland (ATUSWA) Secretary General Wonder Mkhonza
said all along, they had been calling upon government to make sure that all
investors should have security for wages (money equivalent to workers’
salaries for two months) as per the law. He said if this company had security
for wages, the employees would not be in this predicament,. On another note,
Mkhonza called upon the employer to pay the salaries of the workers immediately,
instead of writing letters to the landlords. He said this was because the
landlords might not consider the letters it since they did not have a contract
or lease agreement with the company.