Security guards have gathered in Germiston‚ where they will march to the City of Ekurhuleni offices demanding that they be considered for employment in new contracts to be signed by the metro.
About 6‚000 workers belonging to a number of security companies stand to lose their jobs‚ after the city terminated contracts with their employers. This will leave them unemployed from December 1.
Trade Union of Security Industry in South Africa (Tusisa) president Teboho Motloung told TimesLIVE on Monday that the new contracts Ekurhuleni has signed put workers’ livelihoods under threat.
“The companies that are coming in say the workers who have been working for the city will not be absorbed under the new contracts. We are talking about 6‚000 people who are going to lose employment.
That is why we are here today – to display our dissatisfaction with not only the companies‚ but specifically the municipality. The municipality is one sphere of government which should make sure that in its decisions favour the interests of the people.
“Some of the workers have been trying to go and talk to the new companies who have secured contracts‚ but they have been sent back. They have been told that they are not going to be considered‚” said Motloung.
The security guards protect the municipality’s offices‚ clinics‚ stadiums and all municipal public facilities.
A memorandum will be handed to the office of the mayor of Ekurhuleni‚ Mzwandile Masina.
“Some of the new companies that are coming in‚ like Mabotwane Security‚ we have been able to engage – to say they should absorb the workers already guarding the city. We are still in discussions with them. They are promising to absorb some of the workers‚ but they are saying they can only take a certain percentage‚” said Motloung.
He added that Tusisa wants all security workers to have a minimum basic salary of R8‚500 a month‚ a call the union has been making for some time.
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