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Thirty employees of Murton’s Cane Contractors (MCC) in Big Bend have been dismissed from the company.
The employees, who were dismissed last week, have bitterly complained about the dismissal and have reported their grievances to the Labour Commissioner.
The employees were shown the exit door after a series of run-ins with company authorities over certain issues.
They have alleged that their dismissal was nothing other than the manifestation of a vendetta and victimisation by management as they were front-runners in the establihsment of a union within the company.
Last week Friday, the employees gathered at Mayaluka Park to deliberate on their fate. Almost all the dismissed employees attended this meeting. One of them told Swazi News that trouble started when they decided to form a union after discovering that channels of communication within the company were not open, if they existed at all.
He said they started circulating forms among the workforce and inviting their colleagues to join.
Aslo, at the same time, complaints were flooding against one senior manager within the company.
"About 80 employees signed the forms and agreed to become members of the union. At the same time, complaints against the manager were increasing. And then rumours started circulating to the effect that front-runners in the proposed formation of the union would be dismissed from the company," he said.
The former workers said a few days later after the ‘rumours’, some employees started receiving letters of dismissal.
One Phumuza Kunene allegedly received a letter of dismissal a day after the workers had held a meeting in one of the sugar cane fields where they were discussing logistics of the proposed union.
They said during their meeting, one of the directors of the company, Nigel Murton came and found them in deep discussion.
"He asked what we were talking about and we told him our grievnaces. He asked that we put all our grievances to paper and we duly did that. He promised to address our problems but he never did," said the employees.
They said day by day, the firing continued while others were being suspended.
They demanded to be brought before a disciplianry tribunal.
"The company eventually agreed to bring us before a disciplinary tribunal.
"We knew it was a sham and we were not surprised when we were all dismissed," said another employee.
They alleged that they appealed but waited for weeks without being called to appear before the appeal board.
They said they then decided to collectively go to the company premises to enqure on when their appeals would be heard.
"But, to out surprise, when we arrived at the company premises, we were told that the appeals were on-going at that very same time and the chairman of the appeal board was none other than the manager we were complaining about. We refused to appear before the appeal board and returned to our respective homes," they said.
They were allegedly written other letters, informing them that their dismissals were being confirmed following that they had refused to appear before the appeal, board.
WE FIRED THEM LEGALLY, SAYS BOSS
BIG BEND- One of the senior managers at Murton’s Cane Contractors, Lawrence Murtons has argued that the 30 employees were fired legally from the company.
He said all legal processes were followed before the employees could be fired in terms of the country’s labour laws.
Murtons said the employees were essentially fired for engaging in an unlawful protest action.
"Those people were fired legally and I do not know what their problem is now. They went on an unlawful strike. They appeared before a dicsiplinary tribunal and were found guilty. They lodge appeals but when the date for the appeals came, they did not attend," he said. He said the former employees were now threatening management in many different ways.
"It has become a dangerous situation for us because they are making all sorts of threats. That is why we even keep the gates to our offices locked all the time," he said
He said he was also aware that one of the managers had been reported to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
"But we know too that some of the claims are baseless. The former employees are just aggrieved and creating all sorts of stories," he said.
Fired employees told to vacate houses next month
BIG BEND- Murton’s Cane Contractors has ‘advised’ its fired employees to vacate company houses by January 12, 2012.
This has not gone down well with the 30 employees since they claim it is short notice.
They are also not too happy with the manner in which they have been relieved of their duties.
situated
Most of the houses are situated within Mayaluka Village.
Murton’s Cane is sub-conracted to Ubombo Sugar.
Already, the dismissed employees have been replaced and the company wants to allocate the houses to the new staffers.
...TOP MANAGER REPORTED TO ACC
MBABANE - One senior manager at Murton’s Cane Contractors has allegesly been reported to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)
The manager, whose name is known to Swazi News but has beeen deliberately withheld for now pending investigations, stands accused of bribery and sexual harassment against female staffers at the company.
Dismissed
Dismissed employees say two weeks ago, an officer from the Anti-Corruption Commission, identified as Mn-dzebele, visited the company to record statements from the employees.
The senior manager is allegedly demanding bribes from people seeki-ng employment within the com-pany and dema-nding sexual favours from female employees in return for pro-motions and salary incre-ments.
The ex-empl-oyees allege they have be-en shown the exit door fro-m the com-pany because they have blown the whistle on their boss.
During their meeting at Mayaluka Park, some of the female employees alleged that they bedded the senior mana-ger after being promised they would be promoted.
They claim to have been shocked by their dismissal and attribute their fate to their being involved in the failed attempt to form a union.
The ACC officer is said to have visited the company.
comment
ACC’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) Jabu Phakathi declined to comment and said it was against the law to dicuss who was being investi-gated with the media.
She cited Section 18 of the Prevention of Corruption Act of 2006.
The implicated manager also refused to comment. As soon as he heard that the call was from Swazi News, he hung up his phone and never answe-red it again.