Bay jobs loss shock

MORE than 50 young workers were left shattered last week when a call centre, subsidised by Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality to the tune of R1-million, shut its doors without paying them.

Bizworks, a business process outsourcing company, commonly known as a call centre, has also reneged on a three-year contract signed with the municipality entitling it to rental subsidies valued at R1-million.

While the municipality has expressed shock at the sudden closure last Monday of Bizworks, situated at the Coega Village, young employees fear they will also lose out on Unemployment Insurance Fund benefits. Siyamtanda Nqwelo and scores of other young Bizworks employees said not only had they not been told the company was to close, they had also not been paid their February salaries.

"There are a number of other problems with this whole thing. While UIF money was deducted from our salaries, we have now discovered that the company did not register us with the Department of Labour, so we cannot even claim for that. -