International security giant Group 4 Securicor (G4S) must respect its workers’ basic rights or forget about 2010 World Cup contracts, said unionists on Tuesday.
”G4S must know, if they continue their abuses … we will make sure they do not see a god-darned contract in 2010. They will not see it; they will not smell it,” said South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union general secretary Randall Howard.
He was speaking in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, at a media briefing by an international delegation of unionists, economists and human rights workers who launched a campaign for better treatment of G4S workers in Africa and developing countries.
The delegation was due to meet Fifa on Tuesday afternoon. ”We must demand and campaign for union contracts in the 2010 World Cup,” said Howard.
Union Network International regional secretary in Zambia, Fackson Shamenda, said if Fifa used a security contractor with a record of allegedly abusing workers like G4S, ”then you don’t expect much”.
The campaign is headed by the international Union Property Service Global Union.
The international delegation includes unionists, academics and human rights attorneys, and is due to investigate allegations of G4S abuses against its employees in South Africa, Mozambique and Malawi. The delegation will meet G4S employees, officials and clients, unionists and government officials in the three countries.
Worldwide campaign
”This is not just a South African campaign; it is not just an African campaign. It is a worldwide campaign,” said Howard.
G4S employs about 82 000 people across Africa. The delegation said less than 10% of these are unionised.
”Racism is alive and well in this company,” said Howard, referring to the South African operation.
He said staff in Pretoria have segregated toilets and a worker at OR Tambo International Airport was racially insulted by a manager. ”It is common cause that in G4S, black workers are still referred to as kaffirs and monkeys,” said Howard.
The delegation said G4S CEO Nick Buckles earned £1,5-million (about R21-million) in 2005, but workers in Africa earned the equivalent of £105 (about R1 500) a month and in Malawi, workers’ wages are halved for time worked after eight hours.
”There is something wrong when G4S workers guarding cash machines in Malawi and other places cannot even pay school fees for their children,” said Shamenda. ”They take home pay which cannot even take them home.”
He criticised the company for allowing its managers to treat workers badly. ”Is it too much to ask that they should follow the law? We welcome investment in our continent, but not at whatever cost.”
The Service Employees International Union’s deputy director for the property-services division, Bill Ragen, from Washington, United States, said unions tried to set up a forum for global negotiations with G4S, which ”has so far refused to meet with us, or to discuss these issues”.
He said the international campaign will legally challenge some G4S practices and approach G4S clients or would-be clients — such as Fifa for the World Cup — to lobby against using the company due to unethical practices.
According the G4S website, it employs more than 15 000 people in South Africa and services it offers include cash services, manned security, security systems and risk assessment. It operates on six continents, has about 470 000 employees and is the largest employer listed on the London Stock Exchange. — Sapa