adminThe upmarket café, which has been operating in Gweru’s central business district for the past 20 years, closed last month with the café director, Mrs Sherrifa Rensburg, reportedly citing viability challenges.
The café had a staff complement of about 15 workers.
A group of some of the ex-employees who visited Chronicle yesterday to express their displeasure over the termination of their contracts said they only received $187 each as package last month.
The employees said they had not been paid since January this year only for the café director, Mrs Rensburg, to close the business without paying them their outstanding salaries.
“We have not been paid anything since January 2012 with Mrs Rensburg indicating to us that business was very low owing to stiff competition in the food industry. We were patient and at times we were given just bus fare only for the business to close last month at a time when we were owed money in unpaid salaries,” said a worker.
They said the employer had agreed to pay them all their outstanding salaries and packages on the day of closure.
“On 1 May 2012, when the café was closed, every one of us came with the hope of getting his or her lumpsum money only to be disappointed by management.
Some of us even consulted management whether to prepare food for customers on the last day and we were told to prepare the meals. We were very much convinced that we would get our money but we were all disappointed when nothing came out from our employer on that day,” said another worker.
The workers said they were all given US$187 each early this month as their package.
Some of the workers said they had served the café for close to 15 years.
The workers said when they confronted Mrs Rensburg over the meagre package, she told them that she would be paying them the same flat amount every month until their packages were cleared.
The employees said they were, however, not aware how big their package was as the employer never revealed any figures to them.
“There were some forms, which we were given to sign. Some of us refused to sign the papers while a few others who were desperate gave in and signed. The problem with those forms is that they did not specify how much each of us would be getting in the end,” said another worker.
The workers said they were planning to take the matter to the labour court for arbitration.
Mrs Rensburg did not answer her mobile phone when called for her comment.
An official in her office who refused to be identified confirmed that the employees were being paid their terminal benefits in monthly instalments.
“Mrs Rensburg is in hospital with her husband who is not feeling well. The employees who came to your office have got forms which they signed and they are being paid their packages on a monthly basis. They should have just refused to sign those papers if there were some sections that they were not happy with,” said the official.
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