On the 29th of May 2015, following talks with Wits University Management, workers and students decided to voluntarily end a three day occupation of the University’s 11th floor: home to senior management including the Vice Chancellor. The occupation occurred after the University failed to ensure that the company MJL Electrical – then on Wits’ vendor system – complied with labour laws. MJL Electrical systematically flouted labour law and mismanaged funds. MJL workers subsequently lost their jobs and have not been paid properly since January 2015, and despite deductions from the wages workers were previously paid, all 22 workers have not received UIF, tax and provident fund monies. This is not an isolated case. Companies on campus continuously violate labour laws, for example, it is reported that some workers are still paid below the minimum wage, in cash in brown envelopes, without payslips. Workers employed by Impact – another company that the University has contracted - are currently facing the reality of job insecurity under outsourcing, as the company’s contract with Wits comes to an end this month. Workers live in fear of losing their jobs and livelihoods.
As per the agreement reached in talks to end the occupation, Wits’ Acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal Tawana Kupe released a statement (http://witsworkerssolidaritycommittee.blogspot.com/…/statem…) that committed that no charges would be brought against workers and students. Further, management confirmed that they would approach companies on the vendor list to “request them to employ these workers where possible”. We recognise management’s commitments and believe they should ensure employment for workers retrenched from MJL whose livelihoods and those of their families are threatened. However, we assert that it is because of the University’s outsourcing of services, which began in 2000-2001, that the flouting of workers’ dignity, the non-compliance with labour law, and the precariousness of workers’ jobs all continue unabated. University Management is responsible for instituting and maintaining the practice of outsourcing.
Occupying workers and students engaged in generous talks with management and acted in good faith, despite this, the University went ahead to secure a court interdict against those on the 11th floor. The Wits Workers’ Solidarity Committee sees this action as unnecessarily aggressive since a settlement to end the occupation had already been reached and the 11th floor vacated. We are deeply troubled that the court interdict goes beyond this particular dispute, constrains future political activity that the occupiers may engage in and potentially violates our constitutional rights to protest, and freedom of expression. A further court order was served on 3 June 2015 , holding unemployed workers and students personally liable for legal costs incurred by the University. Beyond there being no way in which unemployed workers and students can afford such, we view this as punitive action on behalf of the University that threatens the right to protest.
We entered into this action aware of the brutality that other workers and students have faced because of their engagement in political action. Workers are routinely threatened, intimidated and victimised for participating in action. A worker leader at the Education Campus has already been victimised due to his involvement in supporting MJL workers. The University must guarantee that workers and students at the University can exercise their rights to meet, organise, protest and strike without fear of victimization, threats or intimidation and commit to taking action against any private service provider that victimizes or threatens workers who exercise these rights.
We call on all who continue to fight against outsourcing to join us in a protest at Wits University Senate Meeting on Thursday the 4th June at 12.30pm. We call for an end to outsourcing, the immediate reinstatement of workers formerly employed by MJL and the defence of our rights to freedom of expression, to protest and organise.
DATE: Thursday 4 June 2015
TIME: 12.30pm
VENUE: Concourse, Senate House, Wits University
CONTACT: Richard 072 604 3501; Deliwe 076 753 7261; Thembi 082 909 3203
FOLLOW US: https://www.facebook.com/WITSWSC;
