SATAWU hands over memorandum of demands

A seven day ultimatum was given during a protest march to Ermelo Department of Labour and the Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison for failure to protect Security officers.

The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) together with other COSATU affiliated unions in Ermelo stand firm to resist exploitation meted to Security Officers by private security companies in the hands of the Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison and according to the memorandum the Department of Labour literally playing a spectator role.

Amongst the issues covered in the memorandum is late payment of salaries, appalling working conditions and non payment of annual bonus.

According to Satawu, both Ulwazi Protection Services and GNT Security Services’ contracts were terminated by the Department of Safety and Security, yet to date these companies owe workers their last salaries and other payments on termination.

According to SATAWU, both these companies blame Safety and Security for their financial woes.

SATAWU demands that the Department of Labour must provide them with a consolidated status report of all cases the cases reported to their office in the past 12 months within seven days.

Demands made to the Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison includes, job security to current Security Officers, to clarify allegations from security companies against the department not paying or paying the service providers late resulting in employees receiving their salaries late, to act against companies not abiding to the employment laws, to abolish the labour brokering system and to ensure a better life for Security Officers.