Striking employees toyi-toyied outside the Grahamstown premises of CM Heunis Construction for the third day running yesterday. Around 40 members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) have gathered daily since Tuesday in Glanville Street, in support of their demand for a R5 increase to their hourly rate.
Striking employees toyi-toyied outside the Grahamstown premises of CM Heunis Construction for the third day running yesterday. Around 40 members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) have gathered daily since Tuesday in Glanville Street, in support of their demand for a R5 increase to their hourly rate.
However, the company says as Grahamstown’s top-paying employer in the sector, they are already stretched to their limit.
Secretary of the local NUM branch Thandisizwe Kiti said they had started wage negotiations with the company last year, but no agreement had been reached.
Last month at negotiations facilitated by the Building Industry Bargaining Council (BIBC) and sanctioned by the Commssion for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), the company had offered general workers an additional 8 percent (R1.20 an hour more) on the maximum wage of R16 an hour for general workers, and a 5 percent increase for artisans.
“We told them they mustn’t speak to us using percentages, but rands,” Kiti said.
The strikers had also rejected a 10.4 percent increase proposed on Monday by the company’s financial manager Neels Heunis.
Kiti said: “We refused because that will not put food on the table.”
Chairperson of the local branch of NUM, Phikisile Helesi said employees struggled to make ends meet with their current wages.
“We don’t see the fruits of our labour. We have got families to feed and when we go to Shoprite, we never take trolleys but carry baskets. Even so, we end up having to leave behind some of the groceries because we don’t have money,” he said.
He also said employees struggle to provide their families with basic necessities like clothes and school uniforms.
Financial manager of the company, Neels Heunis, said yesterday they had been in been ongoing negotiations for the past six weeks with NUM with the assistance of the BIBC.
“We are the highest-paying construction company in Grahamstown,” Heunis said, “and the only construction company that still belongs to the Building Industry Bargaining Council which provides employees with retirement, death, funeral and sick fund benefits, and with the current economic situation in South Africa we cannot afford to meet their demands.”
Heunis said general workers were paid R15 to R20 an hour.
The company had proposed a 10.4 percent (R1.56 to R2 per hour) increase which excludes the additional costs to the Bargaining Council Funds; however, they still had not reached an agreement.
“We have since lost two contracts because of our costs being too high.
“If we agree to their wage demands then it means we will lose business. As a responsible employer we also need to ensure the long-term survival and sustainability of the business,” Heunis told Grocott’s Mail.
NUM regional organiser Mava Cungwa briefed the strikers on the negotiations and assured them that the union was doing all it could to raise their concerns.
“You all have nothing to fear, as this is a legal strike and you are well within your rights,” he said.
While he was addressing the workers one of the employees, known as Madinda, burst out in frustration.
“I work as a painter and have been working here for just a little over a year earning R16 an hour,” Madinda said.
“We work overtime, but we don’t see where the money for overtime goes to,” he said.
The employees were on strike again today. Both the union representatives and the construction company’s management were unavailable for comment regarding progress with negotiations by the time of publishing.
