Grain Carriers drivers who embarked on a strike on Saturday demanding the company cease paying them using an expired incentive scheme and pay the differences created by the system have asked the EFF to intervene.
The company issued the drivers an ultimatum to go back to work as they were busy sorting out the calculations to see which drivers get what but they refuse saying the company broke its promise to pay them by the 20th of April, a driver representative said.
According to the drivers’ representative, Grain Carriers did not consult with them after the expiry of their negotiated incentive payment scheme on 28 February and continued paying them using the old one.
“This is wrong and illegal, the company knows very well that if there is no negotiated incentive scheme then automatically the basic plus overtime kicks in but they chose to continue with the old scheme.”
“We have worked overtime during weekdays, on public holidays and Sundays, we want to be paid for that. They can’t force the incentive scheme which was not negotiated,” said the representative.
Meanwhile, the company says that the drivers are on an unprotected strike and they risk losing their jobs if they don’t go back to work.
“We are not going back to work because the company caused this, they promised to pay everyone on 20 April but they haven’t s now after we stopped trucks they say we are on an unprotected strike. why can’t they just fix the problem amicably,” the driver representative added.
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“We have now engaged the EFF labour desk because the company the company cannot be telling us about the unprotected strike when they don’t fix the mess they created, we just want our money and the EFF will make sure that happens,” the driver representative said.
Grain Carriers did not respond to requests for comment, however, the drivers representative shared some of the responses he got from them.
