Workers up in arms against poor working conditions

Workers at Grand Select in Shayandima have downed tools and are up in arms against their employer.

The workers have vowed not to return to work until their problems, which include termination of contracts, low pay and unsafe working conditions, among others, have been addressed.

The workers who do the maintenance of Telkom underground cables, overhead cables, aerials and replacement of poles say some have been working for the company for more than ten years but get very little as salaries. "Things are not going well here. We have been complaining for many years and we also went to the local labour office, but it seems they will never act and things have not improved at all. We need decent salaries with increments every year as prices are going up every year. We are also worried that we work long hours and no overtime is paid for that," says Mr Godfrey Ratshilivha on behalf of the workers.

He says they also have problems as they do not have safety equipment, like helmets, boots and some of them are injured at work and they are not compensated. "Many of us have worked for many years here, but we do not have any benefits whatsoever. We are forced to sign for something that we do not even know. Our payslips indicate that we get more, whereas a very small salary is deposited in our accounts,” he adds.

Mr Marius Groenewald, director at Grand Select, says the workers do not belong to him: "I do not control those workers as they are employed by Lebogang Electrical. Mine at Grand Select don’t have problems here," he said.

Attempts to get comment from Mr Zacharia Bopape of Lebogang Electrical drew a blank as his phone kept ringing without being answered. An SMS sent to him also did not draw any response.

Date:29 November 2013

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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