Johannesburg - Saccawu – one of Cosatu’s biggest affiliates in the food and retail industry – is struggling financially and unable to pay staff salaries on time.
The Sunday Independent was made aware that Saccawu’s financial problems mounted in June when it was served with an attachment order of R4 million, allegedly by their creditors.
However, it was not a new thing for Saccawu.
Last year, the Department of Labour wrote two letters to the union threatening to terminate their registration as a registered union for failure to submit audited statements in 2012 and 2013 to the labour department in compliance with their Labour Relations Act.
In the latest saga, and according to documents seen by The Sunday Independent that prompted Saccawu national treasurer Allois Gumede to write several e-mails to their staff members nationally, including their own payroll division.
He wrote the e-mail on June 24 – a day before payday.
In the e-mail, Gumede said: “We are doing everything in our power to pay on or before June 26, 2015. We also know that some comrades have debit orders and as a result of the delay there might be penalties,” he said.
On August 25, Gumede wrote another e-mail to all staff in regions, provinces and national in which he also warned about the salary delay.
It was written on payday and he said: “Kindly be advised that there will be a salary delay this month and all our attempts to finalise and/or find a lasting solution once and for all.
“The national office bearers are working tirelessly to conclude and/or resolve this matter.
“One more we apologise for this delay and the delay to notify you earlier because one has not been in the office for the past few days owing to flu. We apologise for the inconvenience this might have caused, including, but not limited to bank charges. And we know that previously all had not been sorted out but the national office bearers will attend to same.”
Several regional and provincial leaders wrote to the national officials and complained about the late notification of the salary delays.
In his reply to their complaints, Gumede said it was practically impossible to pre-empt whatever attempts made to solve the problem prior to the meeting and due to the sensitive nature of the problem.
“We could not put in detail in the e-mail as some of our staff members are going wild on social networks.”
He, however, told his members that some of the food and retail companies would be transferring the members’ contribution the next day promising that they would use those funds to pay its staff members.
On August 30, in the afternoon, Gumede wrote another e-mail. In it, he said: “This serves to confirm and/or indicate that staff salaries will be released on Monday and we have impressed upon the bank to ensure it is done as early as possible. We also want to apologise for this delay and this late communication as we got hold of our bank manager midday while we were in the middle of the meeting.
“On attempting to compel for an earlier release, we were advised or reminded that the processing centre was closed,” he said.
The workers were indeed paid on that Monday. Another was experienced last month.
Staff members were only paid on September 1.
Ironically, staff members were given their payslips on September 20 which showed massive “unexplained and substantial tax deductions on their salaries”.
Our sources said the deductions caused uncertainty in the workforce.
In his reply to the workers, Saccawu deputy general secretary Mduduzi Mbongwe again apologised for the delay – but lambasted those who went on Twitter and other social media networks about the late payment.
“We further extend our sense of appreciation to the vast majority of staff members who have demonstrated a great sense of commitment and loyalty to the union by channelling their concerns through formal structures of the union.
“Unlike the minority which continues to act as faceless sources for the media that seems hell-bent on portraying trade unions in a bad light all the time and refuse to expose the ongoing brutality of the capitalist system in this period of its decay and decadence,” he wrote on September 29.
The workers were paid the next day.
He said they would soon meet with staff representatives to find lasting solutions to the problem.
However, none of these senior leaders responded to request for comments.
Their cellphones, including that of media spokesman Mike Abrahams, rang unanswered. - The Sunday Independent