Security Guards Say They Were Fired for Joining Unions

• A strike by security guards employed by companies contracted to the Eastern Cape government entered its sixth day on Thursday.
• Services at the Eastern Cape Department of Public Works and Infrastructure and at the Department of Education offices in Cofimvaba were disrupted as guards blocked the entrances.They say the companies which employ them, Reliable Guards and Mantl Five, fired some guards for joining unions.
• They want the departments to intervene.

Services at the Eastern Cape Department of Public Works and Infrastructure and at the Department of Education offices in Cofimvaba were disrupted this week, as a security guards strike entered its seventh day.

The guards work for Reliable Guards and Mantl Five. These security companies have contracts with the departments to look after offices and other sites in Cofimvaba and Tsomo town. The strike started last Friday after more than 20 guards were fired last month, allegedly for joining unions.

The fired guards were expecting to be paid on 12 and 15 August. When they did not receive their money, the guards closed the public works department’s site in Tsomo.

On Monday this week they protested outside the education offices in Cofimvaba, demanding their pay and asking the department to intervene. On Tuesday they closed the public works offices, also in Cofimvaba, preventing employees from going in.

The guards want these departments to force the employers to take them back. Some said they had been with these companies for close to seven years.

Guard Olwethu Zekani said the dispute started a few months ago after they complained about being underpaid, not getting annual leave or family responsibility leave, and not having a provident fund.

She had worked for Reliable since 2022 and was paid R6,182 a month, she said.

“We are not getting paid overtime, night shift, weekends or for the public holidays. When we raised these issues we were ignored. That is why some of us joined the unions. But what we didn’t expect was to be fired,” said Zekani. She said she is still waiting for her last payment.

The workers are represented by the African Meat Industry and Allied Trade Union (AMITU) and the Progressive Allied and Travel Union of South Africa (PATU).

Shop steward Mthetho Boyse, who works for Mantl Five, said last month workers from sites in Tsomo and Cofimvaba were dismissed after the employers found out that they had joined unions.

Boyse said the minimum wage for security guards is R31 an hour.

“Sometimes I would work seven nights a week including weekends only to be paid R6,000. When we asked for a meeting to raise these issues we were ignored,” said Boyse.

PATU deputy general secretary Jackson Thiso said after several attempts to meet the employers, workers had taken their grievances to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). He said the employers had identified the workers who joined the unions through the CCMA application.

“Instead of solving the issues they decided to force the workers to leave the union or be fired. After they refused they were then fired,” said Thiso.

“We are talking about people who have been working for these companies for more than seven years and are only getting month to month contracts and that is not fair. Hence we want these departments to intervene,” he said.

At the education department on Monday, only management was allowed to enter after an hour of negotiations between department officials and the guards’ representatives.

Reliable Guards security director Samora Madikane was called. After a five hour meeting with the guards’ representatives and the department officials, said Boyse, Madikane had made it clear that he would only take the guards back if they left the unions. But workers refused.

Guards who worked at the education department were then paid on Monday night.

Approached by GroundUp, Madikane refused to comment. Mantl Five director Sipho Tunyiswa first said he was busy and has since not taken GroundUp’s calls.

Thiso said the education department had promised to take the matter to the provincial offices in Bisho. The union had not been able to speak to managers in the public works department and guards had vowed to continue blocking the entrances until they are heard.

Questions sent by GroundUp to the education department spokesperson Vuyiseka Mboxela on Monday were not answered. Provincial Public Works and Infrastructure spokesperson Vuyani Nkasayi said the department was engaging with the employers.

The matter will be heard at the CCMA on 9 and 17 September.

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