IMPLEMENT SECURITY GUARDS 7.5% PAY HIKE IMMEDIATELY – SATU

MANZINI – SATU and the ‘Big Five’ in the security industry have an agreement to demand proper labour inspection for all companies in the sector.

However, they want the 7.5 per cent salary adjustment, which they agreed on at the wages council to be implemented immediately after the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Phila Buthelezi, issues the gazette. This was revealed by the Swaziland Amalgamated Trade Union (SATU) Secretary General, Frank Mncina, when responding to a questionnaire that was sent to him regarding concerns of companies which were labour non-compliant and underpay the security guards. These concerns were raised by the Big Five security companies in the country and it was after the wages council reached an agreement that security guards salaries should be increased by 7.5 per cent for the 2023/24 financial year. The companies want the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to launch an intensive probe into how the companies in the sector operate in terms of being labour non-compliant, to be specific.

In their claims, they alleged that a majority (over 80 per cent) of the security guard companies in the country were labour non-compliant, as they were purportedly underpaying employees, not paying Eswatini National Provident Fund (ENPF) monies for the security guards and they did not issue out payslips, which meant that their employees could not access financial assistance from financial organisations, among other things. According to some of the companies (Big Five), logic suggests that some of the security companies, which were mushrooming of late, were allegedly cleaning dirty money and the industry, including the workers suffered in the process. They said the issue normally startedwhen they bid for tenders as the companies in question would charge (per security guard) money that was less than the gazetted basic minimum wage.

For example, they said in the current government gazette (for 2022/23), the basic minimum wage for security guards was E2 490 and some of the companies in question charged E2 200 per security guard. Thereafter, they said the question was how much do they pay the security guard? because from that money, they had to buy uniform, cater for operational cost (office rent, fill fuel for patrol cars and pay utility bills among other things) and also get profit. They then threatened not to implement that 7.5 per cent increment until the investigation was carried out and its recommendations implemented.

In response, the secretary general of SATU said the issues raised by these companies were genuine. However, he said they disagreed with the manner in which they wanted to address the challenges. “How on earth can companies punish workers for government shortcomings and weaknesses?” he wondered. Thereafter, he said as a union, they expect full implementation of 7.5 per cent by all companies in the sector. He said they would continue to support all efforts that sought to fight against the non-compliant companies, including the fight against the posture taken by the majority of the companies not to pay workers terminal benefits during retrenchments and violations of fundamental workers’ rights across the sector. He said if they spoke about compliance, they did not only confine themselves to the payment of the gazetted basic minimum rates, but full compliance with all labour legislations of the country.

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