The UASA trade union has accused the State-owned Denel defence industrial group of being in breach of contract with its workers. The union stated that it was “incensed” at reports the group had last month not made third party payments (on behalf of its employees) to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), the South African Revenue Service or to pension funds.
“This means that Denel employees will not be able to claim for UIF should they need to do so, given the difficult and unprecedented times we live in,” asserted the union. “UASA understands that company contributions towards workers’ medical aid have been paid.”
The union pointed out that, last year, Denel had been in the news for not being able to pay its employees’ salaries. UASA further noted that Denel group CEO Daniel du Toit had, at that time, urged workers to stick with the company, support each other, and maintain unity in defence of the group.
In return, he had given the assurance that Denel management was ceaselessly working to resolve the crisis. “UASA hopes that workers are not again running the risk of not being paid and rendered unable to feed their families or pay their bills due to Denel’s inefficient management,” observed the union.
UASA was originally founded in 1894 and was previously known as the United Association of South Africa. It represents nearly 73 000 workers across a range of sectors and is currently a member of the Federation of Trade Unions of South Africa.