Today's Labour News

The Witness reports that union workers on Tuesday called for the termination of the contracts of all security companies that were not in compliance with National Bargaining Council for the Private Security Sector (NBCSS) requirements.

This was among the demands by security officers and their unions, who on Tuesday handed over a memorandum to the Premier’s Office in Pietermaritzburg. The Abanqobi Workers Union (AWU), the Democratised Transport Logistics and Allied Workers Union (Detawu), the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), the SA National Security and Allied Workers Forum (Sansawf), the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu), and other “progressive” unions were part of the march. “We are here to declare that the KwaZulu-Natal Premier and his provincial treasury are complicit in the exploitation of security officers in KwaZulu-Natal,” said Detawu’s Vusi Ntshangase. The unions claimed that at least 1,583 security firms in KZN, some of which were contracted to the provincial government, did not provide their employees with the benefits agreed upon. The officers also demanded access to health insurance and provident funds for all officers, as well as decent and fair basic salaries. “Should they [the Premier’s Office] not respond within these seven days, they will leave us with no other option but to intensify our actions against the exploitation of security officers in this province,” said Numsa’s Henry Myende. He added that they would also petition President Cyril Ramaphosa to authorise the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to investigate all provincial departments that awarded contracts to non-compliant security companies.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Zama Myeza at The Witness

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