WATCH | Pretoria Debonairs Pizza showdown as workers want their money

A video of a confrontation which took place between workers and their employer at a Pretoria franchise of Debonairs Pizza has gone viral on social media.

The footage, which was recorded on Monday, shows workers demanding money that they claim employer and franchise owner, Tony Caldeira, had been deducting from their wages without their consent. 

The workers are led by labour law activist, Mpho Morolane, who can be seen in the video confronting Caldeira and demanding that the workers be immediately paid what is owed to them.

Speaking to TimesLIVE, Morolane said the owner was making unlawful deductions.

"The unauthorised deductions have been a norm at that franchise. I met workers a month ago, crying that the owner deducts money without their authorisation because of stock theft. The owner does not pay overtime, public holidays and Sundays."

According to Morolane, the complaints stem from deductions as high as R800 for a driver and R1,000 for a cashier per month. 

Morolane says Caldeira accused the workers of stealing from the store and told them the deductions were meant to cover the stolen goods.

Caldeira denied that the deductions were a "norm" at his stores and told TimesLIVE that there was theft at his store.

"We only did the deductions this month as a 'shock treatment', hoping that when the workers see money coming off their wages, they would stop stealing. The plan was to pay the money back after some time."

He denied that the deductions were as high as R1,000 for some workers and urged them to check their payslips for clarity.

Caldeira blamed his store managers for not communicating the planned "shock treatment" to the workers. He also confirmed that despite several incidents of stock theft, no criminal charges were ever laid against the workers.

When pressed about allegations of stock theft and other violations of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, Caldeira refused to comment further prior to consulting the Debonairs head office. 

"Some of the workers have been with me for years and they wouldn't have stayed with me this long if they were unhappy. We are a family and all of this is a shock to me."

Caldeira promised that workers would be paid back the money on Wednesday.

 "All Debonairs Pizza staff are important to us and as a franchise business, we do not tolerate any infringements to employee rights. Our franchisees are required to comply with all South African labour legislation. We take this extremely seriously and following communication, the franchise owner has committed to rectifying it with immediate effect," said acting operations executive of Debonairs Pizza, Terry Boardman