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Today, marks 16 days since Security Officers and Cleaners have been camping outside Edenvale Hospital due to unpaid salaries for three (3) months and ultimately were unfairly dismissed.

These workers have since approached ActionSA through their union, SACSAAWU, claiming that the company that hired them can no longer be found at their registered offices as well as telephonically. They also claim that they are now stranded with no other place to go, except back to camp outside their physical place of employment which is Edenvale Hospital.

ActionSA, through myself, has since contacted the hospital to demand the name and full contact details of the company that employed the workers. The hospital has responded with the name of JackCliffy Trading, being the company of which the outsourcing tender of security services and cleaning was awarded to.

At attempts to get hold of the company, I have found the claims of the workers to be true; JackCliffy Trading can no longer be found.

With this knowledge, I had no other alternative today but to write to the MEC of Health and the Gauteng Department of Health as they were the appointing department to JackCliffy Trading and have given them 7 days to respond, failing which legal action will be imminent.

The most concerning fact is that these security officers and cleaners have been working with the now missing company for seven (7) years without a letter of employment or any other benefits such as medical aid, UIF and other related benefits. This cannot be in a democratic dispensation with a labour law regime that is supposed to protect workers from exploitation.

It is scenarios such as these that demonstrate now more than ever that Insourcing is the best solution in order to cut out the middleman who are usually tenderpreneurs linked to the Tripartite Alliance which comprises of the ANC, COSATU and the SACP. For as long as they continue to be in government then corruption and exploitation will continue to be extensive.

ActionSA will continue to fight for the rights of those who have been exploited and marginalized by a government that does not care about the very own they proclaim to fight for. We will continue to place the plight of our people first, and place politics last.

ActionSA will also continue to call for the Insourcing of security officers and cleaners across all government departments across the country before 2024 or will action it ourselves when in government in 2024.

Issued by ActionSA