Marches and demonstrations will be held across the country on Friday as striking cleaners attempt to have their pay demands met, the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) said on Tuesday.
”The wages in the cleaning industry are pathetic. It is completely unacceptable to have a sector in our economy where workers earn a pitiful R594 [a month],” said Satawu general secretary Randall Howard.
He said cleaners are ”clearly abused and given slave wages”, while employers pocketing millions from their clients saw nothing wrong with this.
”We have found this [cleaning] to be one of the hardest sectors to work in, ranking alongside farm labourers and domestic workers as one of the sectors with the worst abuse in our country.”
He also likened the contract-cleaning industry to the security industry, as both are similarly vulnerable to low wages and the absence of proper social benefits.
A protracted security strike marred by violence resulted from wage demands in that sector earlier this year.
The cleaning industry is dominated by women who have children and often work night shifts without proper transport ensuring their safety.
They are further made vulnerable by occupational hazards caused by working with strong chemicals that could result in medical conditions like asthma, said Howard.
The union is demanding that workers in both rural and urban areas, who earn R594 and R754 a month respectively, be given an increase of R88,30 a month — or R1,20 an hour. He said employers had met these demands with hostility, sticking to their offer of an increase of 23c an hour.
”We also demand that the annual bonus be based on the equivalent of one month’s pay,” said Howard.
About 15 unions are participating in the strike, which started on August 1. Howard said in this period there had been ”absolutely no movement from employers … to meet the unions halfway.”
If all unions and affiliates take part in Friday’s march, there could be up to 30 000 people marching nationwide.
Most of these are expected in Johannesburg, where there are more and bigger contracts and the organisation is better than in other provinces.
Satawu spokesperson Ronnie Mamba said the fact that the sector is highly under-unionised is a problem.
Cleaners working on a contract basis might be loath to join a union if they think it will affect their job security, he said.
This meant even if 20 000 cleaners are striking, about 80 000 non-unionised cleaners will still be at work.
The last meeting between the unions and employers took place on August 16, when the employers withdrew a concession to pay workers a 13th cheque. Howard said this was because not all employers had agreed to the conditions.
”Now we are completely back to square one.”
Having not made any breakthrough in negotiations, Satawu and other Cosatu members will march to various labour departments and deliver memorandums on Friday.
Marches will take place in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Secunda, East London and Port Elizabeth. Durban will not take part as the city has a separate bargaining forum that is engaged in wage negotiations.
The union will also serve employers with notices for secondary strike action. Demonstrations and pickets will be held at the offices of various employees. — Sapa