Security guard unions have told a company that provides services at key government installations including the OR Tambo International Airport to give notice to the government that it will terminate such contracts with immediate effect and will no longer bid for government tenders until they comply with the Main Collective Agreement.
The guards organised under several labour unions marched on the offices of Mafoko Security in Hatfield, Pretoria to deliver a memorandum of grievances on Wednesday. The march forms part of the union’s ‘pay back the money’ campaign against companies they accuse of failing to adhere to a collective bargaining agreement to contribute towards a workers’ health benefit plan.
The campaign was launched in Johannesburg in early February by the Abanqobi Workers Union (AWU), Kungwini Amalgamated Workers Union (KAWU), National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), and the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU).
The unions are planning to march on the premises of other companies in KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape as part of their ‘pay-back-the-money’ campaign.
The Association for Private Security Owners of South Africa (TAPSOSA), an organisation representing private security companies including Mafoko Security has slated the move to force them to comply with the agreement which is managed by Affinity Health as “tantamount to anti-competitive behaviour and infringes on their freedom of association as enshrined in our constitution.”
In March 2021, the National Bargaining Council for the Private Security Sector (NBCPSS) approved a health insurance benefits scheme for the sector following the signing of a collective bargaining agreement with employers and unions.
Affinity Health was later appointed as administrator for the health insurance benefits scheme. The benefits include chronic disease management and medication, doctor consultations, hospital and casualty benefits, including an HIV and TB management programme.
However unions have accused security companies of failing to adhere to the agreement, deducting money from workers’ salaries but failing to provide the health care benefits or using other service providers either than the one appointed by the NBCPSS.
The matter was reported to the Financial Sector Conduct Authority and the Council for Medical Schemes which has confirmed it’s investigating.
Dozens of workers clad in union gear picketed outside Mafoko’s offices in Pretorius Street on Wednesday with police keeping a close eye.
There was drama when Mafoko management sent their lawyers to receive the memorandum from union leaders, a move that was rejected and led to a delay in handing over the memo.
Among their demands the unions noted in their memorandum are that “MAFOKO SECURITY must pay back all the money it is supposed to have deducted from their security officers for healthcare benefits and provident fund, with immediate effect.”
The unions are also demanding that Mafoko Security “duly register all its security officers with the designated healthcare service provider Affinity Health to ensure that the workers receive their healthcare benefits, as per the Main Collective Agreement” and that it “adhere to the Main Collective Agreement with immediate effect.”
They are also demanding that the company “duly register all its security officers with the Private Security Sector Provident Fund to ensure that the lives of these workers and their families are protected from the catastrophic effects of loss of income by benefiting from better retirement, disability, death and funeral benefits.”
Mafoko Security director Tshepang Nare accepted the memorandum on behalf of the company. Nare did not respond to the demands made in the memorandum but told the gathering the company will go through the demands and revert to the unions. But union leaders warned that “we will be back here without the police if we don’t hear from you.” – news@mukurukuru.co.za
