BANDAG TYRES IMPLEMENTS PAY CUTS

MBABANE - Over 5 000 people’s jobs and salaries have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and among these are employees of Bandag Tyres.

At the end of April, Bandag employees’ salaries were affected as some of them had to take pay cuts due to the ongoing partial lockdown which was implemented by government in order to try and minimise the spread of the virus.
According to a staff memo dated April 22, 2020, the tyre company stated that in order to stop workers from being laid off, they had resorted to unprecedented measures.

Memo

According to the memo, which is in this newspaper’s possession, employees who earned a salary of more than E10 000 would receive 65 per cent of their gross salary. It was further stated that those who earned more than E8 500 would receive 70 per cent of their gross salary while those who earned more than E7 000 would receive 75 per cent.

The ‘low’ earners who are paid less than E7 000 were spared from any cuts for the month of April as it was reported that they received 100 per cent of their salary. The memo to employees, which was from the human resources and directors, stated that the strategy was purely implemented to protect the financial health of the company and that it was everyone’s responsibility to play their part in order for the business to survive.

The company stated that due to the lockdown, many employers were faced with a financial challenge, which dwindled production orders and closed businesses.
The employees were urged to use their money wisely and also alerted that the situation may worsen or change on a day to day basis.

The Bandag salary pay adjustments come just after it was reported that SwaziSpa employees had also received only 60 per cent of their salaries while it was indicated to them that they would not be getting their pay for the months of May and June 2020.

Lay-off

Meanwhile, the Acting Commissioner of Labour Mthunzi Shabangu last week reported that there were over 20 companies which had reported that they would be forced to layoff workers because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shabangu said over 5 000 workers had been affected and their predictions were to the effect that the figures could double.
While speaking on Eswatini TV, Shabangu said more companies had further written to his office which was an indication that job losses thus far were inevitable if the situation continued like this.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: