NELSPRUIT – Additional payments have been offered to the employees of Cambridge Food after this newspaper discovered that some receive salaries as little as R360 for this past month.

“Some of us were paid an extra R700 on Thursday after exposing the company to the media and reporting it to the Department of Labour,” said staff members.

This comes after devastated employees told journalists that they were paid less than a mere pittance by management. When speaking management, journalists were told by the shop manager that his staff members were not allowed to talk to the media.

Last Tuesday personnel told this newspaper that they were surprised to receive SMSes on their cellphones indicating that the company had deposited their January salaries on the 18th with amounts as little as R360, while others were paid R800.

Despite their recent payments, the employees said Cambridge Foods still owed them more, pointing out their first payments three months ago when the shop opened was far better than what they currently earned, cashiers were initially paid R2 300 an amount which decreased from R1 800 to R2 100 per month.

The staff members revealed that they had never received payslips since they had started working and hadn’t signed contracts with the company.

They alleged that each time they enquire about their contracts they were apparently threatened to be fired by the store manager and his assistant.

“We were shouted at like small babies and one had to pretend to be busy each time the manager or the assistant came in,” they said.

Personnel members said they were not paid for their overtime duties. They added that they were even not sure of their payday because they started work on November 5. They were paid R1 200 on December 6, and in December some received their salaries on the 20th and some on the 24th.