Cosatu in KwaZulu-Natal says it is adamant about curbing the ill-treatment of workers at factories in Durban.
This follows an exposé by the SABC where female workers were being stripped naked on suspicions of theft when they knock off from duty.
At least two companies, the RS Fashions and Huntrex Clothing factory on Sydney Road in the city centre, had introduced a routine theft inspection rule which forces women to undress and be searched in front of others.
The labour department also found that workers in these factories are exploited and under paid.
Cosatu’s Provincial Secretary in the province, Edwin Mkhize says, “When we went there we tried to interact with some of the workers and workers were very closed or stingy with information. The conditions the workers face is quite fragile. You can also see that issues of victimisation and workers made to pay a heavy price for exposing this information is something that is there. When we met the management they were denying these incidents up until we had to speak hard as Cosatu. They then told us that this thing happened but only one and they apologised and said it only happened once.”
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