The UASA trade union has announced that it is launching an urgent application in the Labour Court, against State-owned entity (SOE) Denel, over the non-payment of workers’ salaries by the group. The union has also written to the CEO of Denel, which is a defence industrial group, on behalf of its members, seeking clarification regarding their salaries.
“We know most Denel employees did not receive full salaries and were only paid a percentage of their salaries for May 2020,” stated UASA. “No further amounts have been received or discussions held as to when the rest of the salaries will be paid to the employees.”
The union affirmed that Denel’s failure to pay workers their full salaries last month was a “flagrant breach”of their employment contracts. It also represented a contravention of the 1997 Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
“UASA members, who were at all times loyal to Denel, find themselves in a desperate financial position as they are unable to comply with their financial obligations towards their creditors and families,” highlighted the union. “We have also written to the Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, to inform him of the legal action we are now undertaking against the SOE and asking for the government as a shareholder in Denel to intervene.”
The union reported that Denel had scheduled an information session for unions on June 9, but had then postponed it until June 12. At that meeting, it had become clear that the defence group would fail to meet its statutory and contractual obligations towards its workers for the months of May, June, July and August this year.
“UASA sent a letter of demand to Denel but we received a very unsatisfactory response,” stated the union. Consequently, UASA had had no option but to approach the Labour Court, so that it could get a compliance order issued. “UASA finds it shocking and unbecoming of an SOE such as Denel to not honour their contract with their employees by not paying their salaries in full, or not at all.”