adminA group of employees who visited Chronicle yesterday said the restaurant closed its Seventh Street branch in December after they had worked for the whole year without pay.
They said they have since taken the matter to the Zimbabwe Catering and Hotel Workers Union for arbitration.
“We believe it was not fair on the part of the restaurant directors to give us $50 as terminal benefits after going for a whole year without pay. Some of us had worked for the restaurant since 1993. We have approached the workers’ union to deal with the matter, as we feel our labour rights were infringed,” said one of the employees.
The employees said one of the restaurant directors, Mrs Clarity Chakauya, has been giving them false promises on their outstanding amounts and benefits since last year.
They said they had agreed to have an out of court settlement to solve the impasse, but Mrs Chakauya kept on shifting goalposts whenever they met to discuss their plight.
“We then decided to engage the labour union and Mr Kapeko from the Zimbabwe Catering and Hotel Workers Union is handling the matter,” said another worker.
The workers blamed the restaurant owners for mismanagement, which they said was the reason behind the demise of the restaurant.
“There was no longer professionalism in the running of the business since the death of the owner, Mr Chakauya, who was Gweru City’s Housing Director. There has been abuse of funds by management and we spent the whole of last year without being paid after the restaurant closed one of its branches,” said another worker.
Mrs Chakauya confirmed that Safe Way Restaurant closed one of its outlets in the CBD when she was contacted for comment.
She cited viability challenges as the reason for the closure.
Mrs Chakauya, however, denied the allegations that the employees had gone for a whole year without pay.
She also denied that there was mismanagement of the family business.
“Yes, we owe our employees money in salaries, but we are paying them in batches. We have agreed with all the affected employees that I will be paying them in batches and I also paid them something towards Christmas. For them to then say we have not paid them for the whole of last year is not true,” she said.
Online Reporter