Image: WERNER HILLS
Formex Industries employees on Thursday picketed over what they claim is the company’s failure to release funding from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) temporary employee relief scheme (Ters).
The workers claimed the company submitted and received funds from Ters on their behalf, but refuses to pay them.
Andile Peter, who works at Formex in Markman, said: “Our employer said on March 24 there would be a no work, no pay policy during the lockdown; our human resources office told us they weren’t given money by the government.
“That is when the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa intervened, they engaged with our employer and our union representative told us we’d be paid for a week.
“We later [investigated and] found out our employer claimed from the UIF fund in order to pay us for the week when the president extended the lockdown.”
According to another employee, Wiseman Yona, Formex allegedly consulted with less than 40% of workers and he claims they decided on paying the workers from their annual leave.
Image: WERNER HILLS
“Minister of employment and labour Thulas Nxesi on television said the annual leave should not be used by employers, the UIF funds would be utilised.
“On level 4 of the lockdown when we returned to work we were surprised to be told that we owe the company money, because they took from our annual leave and we wouldn’t be paid.
“We told the employer we couldn’t work while we were hungry, we investigated and found out Formex had received R485,000 from the UIF fund and they told us it was for workers that earned monthly and not weekly,” Yona said.
Peter said the funding was allegedly received on April 19 and claimed that certain Formex workers were paid in May after The Herald reported on their strike.
Formex Industries CEO Henny Venter said he was confident about the position of the company and it was not going to discuss the matter through the newspaper.
Numsa regional secretary Mziyanda Twani said the union was in talks with the employer concerning the issue.