Contracted hospital cleaners threaten to strike over pay dispute
A group of almost 100 contracted cleaners at the Komani-based Frontier Hospital are threatening to down tools amid a salary dispute with their employer.
The were employed last October by a private service provider to the provincial health department.
Some of the 99 workers, employed by Ayavuya Trading and Projects to service the hospital, claim they were struggling to put food on the table as they had not been paid their salaries for the past few months.
While some had been paid in some of those months, they claim that their pay cheques fluctuate, and in some instances are paid below what they had agreed on. Some were emotional when they spoke to the Dispatch this week, narrating stories of how they were struggling to make ends meet.
They asked to remain anonymous for fear of victimisation.
The health department said it has nothing to do with this issue as it was a matter between the workers and their employer.
Their boss, Ayavuya Trading and Projects director Akhona Mlinda, on Thursday admitted that there were some “hiccups” in her business operations, but denied that close to 100 employees were affected.
She has employed 111 staff members at Frontier Hospital, but denied that this non-payment challenge had affected the majority of them.
The businesswoman said about 100 of her employees had their salaries up to date, with only a few had outstanding salary issues. Mlinda, who said her company was “small and still growing”, said her woes were due to the provincial health department’s failure to pay her invoices on time.
She said such failure has resulted in her not being able to pay the R500,000 a month salaries on time, saying such had been communicated to her employees on numerous occasions.
Mlinda said she will meet with the disgruntled employees next week, and sort all their salary payment challenges.
Some of the disgruntled employees’ children are unable to attend school as they could not afford school fees, they say, while their life, funeral, and other insurance policies were not being serviced.
Some are being hounded by their landlords, others have opted to walk to and from work as they cannot afford transport money, with many going to bed on empty stomachs.
“Things were not rosy from the first day we joined this company,” one employee said.
“For example, we were employed in October and promised a basic salary of R3,700. We only got our first pay on December 26.
“Our January, February, March and April salaries were not paid, and we only received part of those salaries in May.
“In fact not all of us did receive that money, some are not even paid to date, while others have not received all their money.”
Her colleague echoed her concerns, saying: “People cannot pay rent or afford transport money. “Most of us are single parents and depend on this money. We have not been given an actual date as payday. We were once told that we get paid at the end of the month.
“But when the money did not come, we were told that our payday is on the 15th of each month, but even then, when we go to our banks, our accounts are empty, and when it does come, it is short of what we are supposed to be earning.”
They claim they have never been paid the agreed upon basic salary of R3,779 a month.
They said all their pleas had fallen on deaf ears, as their boss most of the time “just ignores us”.
Another staffer alleged they were not registered with the labour department, were not paid for overtime and working on Sundays, and that when they have submitted sick notes, they did not receive their salaries for the day they were absent.