Workers are fed rotten hostel food - Numsa APR 19, 2012 | VUSI XABA AND I-NET BRIDGE |
NATIONAL Union of Metalworkers of SA has accused Murray & Roberts of treating its employees like dogs, allegedly feeding them rotten food. he company has denied this As a result, the workers are boycotting the food at their hostel at the company's construction site at Medupi plant in Limpopo, where the company is contracted by Eskom. Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim yesterday said workers complained on Monday about racism, nepotism and the overlooking of local staff in favour of migrant workers for special skills positions. He said the trade union had now requested Eskom, the government and the Department of Public Enterprises to intervene in the matter. Murray & Roberts spokesman Ed Jardim said: "There was a problem with the previous catering company and its services were stopped. The new one was appointed as a temporary measure. "We had offered to give workers food packets, but the union refused, preferring living out allowances. "We will never give rotten food to our workers," he said. Jim said: "The workers have boycotted the food. They are now buying food for themselves. "It is not easy to deliver quality service for 15,000 people." The union also accused the company of apartheid-era racial discrimination tactics in appointing people to managerial positions. "We are further irritated by what appears to be apartheid racial demographics where all key positions of authority at Murray & Roberts on the site are occupied by white males. "What is even worse is the abuse of power by the very same white managers, wherein their family members or spouses are being employed without any form of experience or knowledge of the work," Jim said. He also said workers were subjected to overcrowded conditions, while those from other countries were given good living conditions. Eskom had not responded by the time of going to press. Finally there may be hope for mine workers at Aurora Empowerment Systems as two companies have reached an agreement with the liquidators to buy the ailing mine. JSE-listed gold exploration and mining companies Gold One and Goliath Gold have entered into an agreement with the liquidators of Pamodzi Gold to acquire Aurora's assets in Ekurhuleni. Sent from my iPad -- 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] .
