adminThe 24 workers, who are working in different departments under the supervision of the School Development Association (SDA), have worked for the school for between one and 10 years.
The workers who spoke to Chronicle on condition of anonymity said the SDA chairman, Mr Titus Ndhlovu, on behalf of the school, threatened them, saying they would lose their jobs if they did not sign the new contracts.
“We have been working at the school on permanent basis all along but on Friday, the SDA chairman, Mr Ndhlovu, called for a meeting and gave us new contract forms, saying we must fill in the forms whether we like it or not,” said one of the employees.
“The new contracts have different terms which include that the employer or the employee can terminate it within 24 hours instead of one month.”
The employee said when they questioned him about their terminal benefits, the SDA chairman did not entertain them, saying it was a Government directive.
“We thought they were supposed to give us our terminal benefits since we were permanently employed, but Mr Ndhlovu did not entertain any queries. He said it’s either we sign the new contracts or we quit our jobs.
“He said the Government had instructed them not to hire non-teaching staff on a permanent basis, but we did not see the circular,” said the employee.
He said the school also informed them that it would not pay them according to the National Employment Council (NEC) as it was no longer a member of the workers’ council.
“We do not even know if we are still wanted at work because we did not sign the new contracts as we feel that it is unfair for the school to forget about all the years we have worked.
“The school authorities have always treated us unfairly and Mr Ndhlovu told us that they could easily replace us as there were several people looking for jobs at Mhlahlandlela. We are tired of being intimidated and we want the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture to do something,” he said.
When contacted for comment, Mr Ndhlovu said the school was working under Government regulations like any other Government school.
“We work under Government regulations which say that all general workers must work under contracts which are renewable after one year or more depending on the agreement.
“There are no terminal benefits that the workers must receive because they were not permanently employed. They were actually signing new contracts on a monthly basis all these years, until we decided to revert to signing yearly,” said Mr Ndhlovu.
He said the school was not firing anybody and the workers were given time to ask questions and the whole process was clearly explained to them.
“I do not know what the workers are talking about because we assured them that we were not firing anybody unless they leave voluntarily. All SDA employees in Government schools are employed on a contract basis, or they hire companies to do the job.
“The only problem that we have is that the workers have always asked for higher salaries but we cannot afford them as a school,” said Mr Ndhlovu.
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