It’s understood that 20 workers of the centre in Joburg were shown the door five months ago after complaining that the labour broker who hired them was mistreating them. They claimed the agency’s managers called them the k-word and Magoshas. Former employees of Forest Farm Centre and EFF members protested outside the centre on Saturday.
The EFF’s Moshe Mphahlele said when the agency became their employer last year their salaries were cut by 25% and their lunch break reduced to 20 minutes. Mphahlele said they were calling for the centre’s management to fire the agency and return the workers to their posts.
“The agency has been mistreating the workers. They work for 12 hours with only 20 minutes for lunch break,” he said. “When they raised their concerns, they were called names and referred to using the k-word and Magoshas. We are here to say action should be taken against them.”
A memorandum was accepted by the centre’s chairman, Richard Dixon. Demands include that staff be paid five months’ salary, get an annual increase, work an eight-hour daily shift and be allowed to take leave days.
The protesters gave the centre’s management seven days to respond and 30 days to take action against the agency. Mphahlele said if they failed to take action, they would be back with guns blazing.
Source: Daily Sun
