Petrol stations need to check more than just oil and water

Pinky Khoabane: When I wrote about the exploitation of employees at a BP petrol station last week, I hoped to get the attention of BP South Africa and have it investigate the matter and enforce the law throughout its franchises.

What I hadn't bargained for, however, was an ignorant remark from its marketing and sales head, Sipho Mbelle, which sparked the ire of other BP franchises - and labour unions Cosatu and the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa. The motor industry falls under Numsa.

Mbelle, in his response, had overlooked the simple rules that guide the issuing of uniforms for petrol attendants (if he was ever aware of them before the article in question) and had suggested that BP franchises were allowed to use their discretion in issuing uniforms to their employees.

Mbelle and I were invited on to a radio station to discuss the matter. He has apologised for his remarks and has stated clearly that all filling stations were supposed to adhere to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and all employees were to be issued with uniforms at no cost.

He has undertaken to conduct an investigation into the specific filling station to which I referred in my column, and to also do a wider investigation and enforce all statutory laws.

Well, we wait and see. As they say, talk is cheap.

In my investigations at other petrol stations, I discovered that this is an industry rife with runaway exploitation and non-compliance with the law.

I visited 10 petrol stations in the past week. There were no standard guidelines by which the petrol stations operated. There were variations even within the same oil company, which suggests Mbelle may have been correct in saying each petrol station did as it saw fit.

One Shell outlet offered the uniforms free and had employment contracts for their staff, while another, just minutes away, offered free uniforms and didn't have contracts.

I visited three Caltex garages and all of them adhered to the free uniforms policy. A Total garage gave free uniforms but had no contracts even though the staff said they had salary slips and that their employer was paying UIF deductions to the Department of Labour. Despite giving the station a week in which to show me salary slips, it was unable to produce them by the time of going to press.

At another BP, about five minutes from the one I wrote about last week, the staff said they used to have employment contracts directly with BP but the filling station had had new owners since March. Since taking over, the owners had slashed their salaries and the supervisors had been moved to petrol attendants' positions without consultation or prior notice.

In one Engen garage, the employees don't have contracts. They are often sent on unpaid leave without prior notice and recalled as the owner sees fit.

My findings seemed to match the common issues encountered by employees in this industry. According to Numsa, many filling stations do not comply with the law; the contraventions include: sale of uniforms, which should be issued for free; unfair labour practices (no contracts, unfair dismissals, no proper job titles and descriptions); abusive and vulgar language; sale of businesses without proper notice, consultation or payment; exposure to fumes and lead without regular health checks, non-registration with the Motor Industry Bargaining Council; and many more.

While mine was not scientific research, and indeed I concede that there may well be good operators out there, questions must be asked of the Department of Labour, the bargaining council and petroleum companies.

Who monitors this industry? What mechanisms are in place to ensure compliance? The bargaining council has to enforce agreements among the parties. So what is it doing?

What of the Department of Energy? What of the South African Petroleum Industry Association? What is its role?

While there can never be any excuse for breaking the law, one has to ask if filling stations make the necessary profits to meet the stringent conditions contained in the franchise contract.

You need not look further than your street to see the number of filling stations crowded in one area. The competition is not only from other petroleum companies, but also from within the same brand. It's not uncommon to find six petrol stations from the same oil company within a very small radius, which simply begs the question: where does the interest of the big oil companies lie? Is theirs only to collect the massive percentage in royalties, suggested by some as 12% of the franchisees' turnover?

Methinks the answers lie in the growing concentration of power in the oil companies.