Minister appeals to employers to comply with regulations
The Department of Labour has received numerous complaints from workers about employers who force workers to work without the necessary protective gear.
Essential services workers must be provided with the necessary protective gear and equipment necessary to perform their duties.
This was announced yesterday by the Minister of Employment and Labour, Thulas Nxesi.
The Department of Labour, he said, received numerous complaints from workers about employers who force workers to work without the necessary protective gear.
Inspectors from the department are following up, he said, largely in Gauteng, KZN and the Western Cape. Inspectors also reported other safety and health breaches, and already a retail and manufacturing plant was closed down on day one of the national lockdown.
Inspectors are accompanied by SAPS members and officials from the Department of Trade and Industry. Some employers produced fraudulent letters declaring they could continue working as essential services, the minister said.
The minister appealed to employers to “do the right thing”, saying those who don’t will later be named and shamed.
Nxesi furthermore said the Unemployment Insurance Fund would fund and put in place systems to address lay-offs during the lockdown, for those workers who are registered with the fund. He reiterated that the fund could not deal with millions of individual claims and has therefore put in place systems to pay out UIF through companies, sectoral associations and bargaining councils.
Such arrangements require that a memorandum of understanding will be entered into with employer bodies and the use of such monies is subject to auditing, as it is public money.
Nxesi urged all parties to come together in order to assist in expediting the payment of these monies to workers who need it.
“The seriousness of the situation calls on all of us to rise to the occasion and fully comply with the conditions of the regulations of the lockdown. So, wash your hands, practise safe physical distancing, stay at home and stay safe,” he requested.
Employers can call the UIF call centre at (012) 337 1997 for assistance.
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