Workers chased away from their jobs at Desai’s Bakery in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, say they endured years of verbal, xenophobic and racist abuse from their employer. They feel they have no protection and no way to safeguard their rights.
“Once I cut my finger with the bread [slicer]. But all the employer was concerned about was the machinery, not my injury. I bled in the taxi trying to get to Livingstone Hospital,” says Gumie Mukondiwe, 33, who is from Zimbabwe. Before this, in August, the workers approached the EFF for help, but it said the CCMA would not allow the party to represent workers and recommended a meeting with the employer. The workers and four EFF provincial leaders went to the bakery to ask for a meeting on 22 August. But they were beaten up, allegedly by the bakery’s private security guards.
But Chawasarira says this is not true and that the police failed to arrest the attackers and also never arranged an identification parade. Naidu did not respond when asked about this. During the arbitration, Chawasarira says, the commissioner disregarded their payslips, would not admit into evidence the audio recording and instead accepted Desai’s assertion that he had always paid them the minimum wage, even though he had no proof of this.
The latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey indicates that 67% of workers are not unionised. “A majority cannot afford any legal advice, and workers will inevitably take up disputes at the CCMA on the basis of their experience of an act of injustice and potentially a general knowledge of their rights, but not on the basis of a deep knowledge of the legal requirements to win a particular case,” says Dor.
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