City Press reports that Parliament will be starting to pay its white shirt bouncers a danger allowance of R400 a month when the legislature is in session because of the dangers at work.
Officially referred to as “chamber support officers”, the bouncers were hired to remove disruptive MPs. “It is common knowledge that they often suffer injuries as a result of physical assault, which in the past has resulted in hospitalisation and the need for professional counselling,” said parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo. But, the danger pay arguably changes the bouncers’ terms and conditions of employment, which is amid pending labour action by ordinary parliamentary protection officers over the preferential treatment given to these bouncers. The new officers were hired at a better annual pay of up to R150,000 more than the existing team of parliamentary protection service officials. “The allowance does not change employees’ conditions of service; they remain the same. Compensation for risky and harmful duties in a workplace is an obligation every employer has under the law over its employees,” said Mothapo.
- Read this report by Andisiwe Makinana in full at City Press
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