Pretoria - Cleaners affiliated to the South African Funeral, Catering, Retail and Allied Workers Union (SAFCRAWU) have brought their pleas to be insourced to the City of Tshwane's doorstep.
Convenor Isaac Malema said cleaners responsible for keeping municipal offices such as the Tshwane Call Centre and the City council offices in Hammanskraal clean were calling on the City of Tshwane to do right by them and insource their services.
Speaking outside Tshwane House following a brief protest by workers Malema said they felt hard done by the fact that the City was willing to insource security workers, yet those responsible for keeping their offices clean were being left out in the cold.
He said the main reason why workers were demanding to be insourced was due to the fact that small companies subcontracted by the city were mistreating them and often delayed paying the salaries of workers.
"The tender system is failing South African workers because contracts are given to comrades who continuously fail workers. Right now workers are still waiting for their May salaries well into the new month."
"Workers are calling on the City to insource them as they believe it is the only permanent solution to their woes. They've been working through the holidays cleaning and ensuring the municipal offices are ready as per Covid-19 regulations and they are rewarded by cut salaries or none at all. "
Malema said since workers started in May 2020 their employment was plagued by major challenges including delayed payment for overtime work, lack of proper payslips, no salary increase as per compliance with sectoral determination of contracts.
The 32 workers involved called for the City to introduce a task team including organised labour to assist with the process and drafting terms of reference and insourcing agreements.
"We believe insourcing will provide workers with a liveable wage, fringe benefits and opportunities, increased job security better wages and overall economic growth."
Their memorandum was accepted by Tshwane MMC Dikeledi Selowa.
Pretoria News