Employees of various companies continue to accuse their employers of failing to pay them their monies after claiming from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF). Among those who are complaining are the employees of a manufacturing company known as Sakpro in Mpumalanga.
The angry employees downed tools and embarked on a protest action demanding to be paid as soon as possible. The workers went on strike after discovering that their company claimed for the UIF-COVID-19 compensation but still failed to pay them full salaries this month.
Sakpro manufactures knitted vegetable and fruits bags as well as decorative netting. The angry workers say they need the money to pay their bills and also to buy food. They are accusing their employers of being dishonest and greedy.
It is alleged that the management of the company is also threatening the workers to return to work. But the Branch Chairperson of the South African Clothing Textile Workers Union (SACTWU), Thembi Masango, says the workers will not return until their demands are met.
“We want the employer to pay us with the money that comes from the COVID-19 that he claimed. If he does not pay us we are not going back to work. We manage to find that he has claimed our money but he didn’t tell us. We confronted him and then he said yes I claimed the money,” says Masango.
Sakpro management told SABC News that they would not comment to the media about this issue.
