04 May 2015

MJL WORKERS KICKED OUT OF WITS: OPEN LETTER TO WITS UNIVERSITY

Dear Colleagues

We, the MJL Electrical workers, write to you out of desperation.

We have been serving and maintaining this university for quite some time. Some of us have been working here since 2001, longer than many students and staff. Due to no fault of our own, we have lost our jobs. Some of us have already lost our homes. We worry about our children who we can’t feed and clothe properly. We now face being chucked out of the university like rubbish and struggling with lives of debt, insecurity and unemployment. We feel sick.

This has happened because the owner of the outsourced company, George, has violated workers’ rights. Since the beginning of the year, we have not been paid properly. We have taken him to the CCMA because he is not complying with labour laws. But, we the workers, who have never been found on the wrong side of the law, are suffering.

We informed the university executive about this since the beginning of the year. You have not been willing to ensure we receive a living wage, even though we work at Wits, even if not employed by Wits. But you always said you would hold a company (that was contracted by Wits) accountable if it violated workers’ rights. You have not done that, why? If you had acted immediately on this, the situation would not be like this. We have held many meetings with the university’s executive to ask for action against George and to look for ways to save our jobs. Sadly, all you can say is it’s not the university’s problem. You have protected him and his job, but not us the workers, why? We are hurt and angry.

How can a university that says it stands by human rights and social justice do this to us?

What criteria are you using to hire your contractors at Wits? We are questioning this because they are not complying with the labour laws. They are not paying tax, provident funds and UIF. We sit at home without work and do not even get our UIF benefits. How can such things happen inside this university? It is such a disgrace. You say you can’t intervene now. It is an insult to us considering that our time has been wasted here trying to negotiate with your executive committee. They made empty promises. It is time to swallow your pride and do things fairly to everyone inside your campus. We are humans like you and we deserve to be treated fairly, not like rubbish. If you do not act, you are promoting the corruption that violates our rights as workers.

We are asking for a simple thing: Wits management must do the right thing. The work we did is now being done by other companies. Why can’t we be employed by them to do this work? We are not asking for a big thing. We just want to be able to live and provide some security for our families.

We are peacefully saying, Wits must do more!

MJL workers at Wits University