Aggrieved striking workers of Thai Summit auto parts manufacturing company in Tshwane want a written agreement between them and the company to be in place, instead of verbal promises the management of the company has been making to them all along.
“We want the agreement to be in black and white, failing that we are not going back to work,” said a fuming Sibongile Masilela, who works as a production operator at the company.
“Thai Summit has a tendency to make verbal promises and agreements in order to dupe us into resuming work each time we embark on a work stoppage, and after we return to our duties they refuse to honour the promises and agreements that they have made verbally,” she said.
She revealed that it was not the first time that they as workers of Thai Summit embarked on a work stoppage in demand for their grievances to be heeded by the management of the company.
“In May last year we brought operations to a standstill through strike action after receiving a certificate to strike, but the company duped us into abandoning the strike by making verbal promises and on top of that they insulted us by giving us written warnings for the strike action, instead of meeting our demands,” said Masilela.
“Right now the Thai Summit has again made verbal promises to meet our demands and wants us to resume our duties but how can we do that because in the past they have made similar empty promises and we can’t trust them anymore, unless everything is written down and signed by the management and the workers, simple,” she said.
The Thai Summit workers have been on strike since Monday this week, this in demand for their long-standing grievances to be met.
“When we started working here in 2022 we had good allowances but those allowances have since been taken away by the management and won’t be reinstituted again; the management doesn’t want to increase our salaries; last year we were cheated of our bonuses; and our shop steward was suspended after writing a group email on behalf of the workers to the head office of Thai Summit company in Thailand,, alerting it of the shenanigans taking place at the Tshwane plant” explained Masilela.
In a nutshell their demands are as follows:
1. A hundred and ten percent (110%) increase in night shift allowance.
2. Payment of long overdue salary increases.
3. Payment of bonuses which were should have been paid last year but have not been paid until now.
“As operators we are the backbone of production of auto parts for Ford company, but the company takes us for granted and kicks us even when we are lying down,” she said.
Masilela pointed out that it was regrettable that black officials who are working in the offices of the company were siding with the company, yet they know the struggles and hardships of their fellow black brothers and sisters.
“This Thai Summit company is owned by foreigners from Thailand, but we have black South Africans in senior positions in the company who are allowing this nonsense to happen just because they are earning high salaries and living in luxury,” said Masilela.
Fork-lift driver Roger Manala said he is one of the workers who started working for the company, at its inception in 2021 but today the company doesn’t show gratitude to them but instead treats them with utter disrespect.
“The 110% pay allowance for night shift was very good to us but it has since been cancelled by the management without consulting us,” said Manala. ” We only realised on payday that the 110% payment allowance for night shift has been cancelled when we received inadequate salaries,” he said.
“Due to the cancellation of the 110%-night shift payment allowances, we are struggling as our lives have changed for the worst; some among us have been divorced due to failure to provide for our families like we used to and kids who used to attend private schools can’t do so anymore as parents can’t afford to pay for tuition fees any longer,” he said.
According to Manala, those working on a renewable contract basis must legally be given four months contracts, but there is discrimination in this regard by the company as other workers are given three-month renewable contracts.
He also pointed out that the salary increase that they are fighting for us something that has been implemented nationally at all companies under Thai Summit, yet at the Tshwane plant the management has only given workers half of the agreed salary increase.
“We are oppressed here, and the situation feels like we are still in the days of apartheid,” explained Manala.
Working conditions at the plant are very poor, according to the aggrieved workers.
“There are no safety measures in place and often workers get injured, the plant is dusty, when it is summer the plant is unbearably hot, and when it is winter the plant is unbearably cold,” said Manala.
Messages sent to Thai Summit company by Tshwane Talks had not been responded to at the time of publishing this story.