Brutal face of subcontracting exposed again - Wits cleaners have put out a call for support for their picket against retrenchments,
Monday 7 December 1pm to 1.30 pm. Main entrance to Wits - Senate house, Jorissen street. Wits University cleaners canned for Christmas They think their retrenchment is illegal Cleaners at the University of the Witwatersrand got a nasty Christmas present on December 1: retrenchment letters from Supercare, the cleaning contractor, giving them only one month's notice. (The letter is reproduced below). Supercare's letter claims the retrenchment is in line with cleaners' employment agreements, but cleaners allege that the implications were not explained to them when they were told to sign new employment agreements earlier this year. Lawyers are investigating the legality of the new agreements and of the retrenchment itself. The letter makes no mention of retrenchment packages, and implies that UIF cards will be withheld until company uniforms are returned. Labour law requires consultation with the employees or their representatives but there is no evidence that this has taken place. The management's letter says the university has terminated the contract with the company. The university says it is 'reducing the frequency' of use of the cleaning services. Some of the cleaners have worked at Wits since the late 90s, when cleaners were directly employed by the university. When they were transferred to the outsourced company their pay was halved and they lost their benefits as well as the right to educate their children at Wits. Last Thursday, cleaners packed into a lecture hall resolved to oppose the retrenchments. They called supporters to join them on Monday (7 December 2009) for a lunchtime picket to kick off a campaign to protect their jobs. Students, academic staff and alumni of the university have condemned the retrenchments of low-paid, low-skill workers given the high unemployment levels. A petition signed by nearly two hundred people expresses 'disgust' at the retrenchemnts. PICKET: Monday, 7 December 2009, 1pm to 1.30pm, at the main entrance of the University (Senate House, Jorissen Street, Braamfontein) CONTACTS: National Service and Allied Workers' Union: Sam (083 969 5683) Wits Workers' Support Committee: Noor (082 457 4103)/ Naadira (082 494 3988) DOCUMENTS: (can be mailed on request) 1. Retrenchment letter 2. Letter from the registrar of the university 3. Petition circulated by students and acadmic staff with signatures by 7.30pm, Sunday 6 December 4. Posters produced by support campaign -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
