Labour department targets security companies

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Pretoria - The Department of Labour is to step up labour legislation compliance efforts within the private security sector.

The department says legal action will be taken against security companies found to be non-compliant with the law.

Addressing a private security seminar held at Ilanga Estate Resort in Bloemfontein, Department of Labour Director: Advocacy Services, Zakes Mogwatlhe, said they were identifying the worst employers in the sector and targeting them for an inspection blitz.

Mogwatlhe said the time to name and shame labour law transgressors has come. He said the private security sector was one of the least compliant sectors in terms of labour laws.

He said the department will continue its advocacy campaigns to educate stakeholders in the sector about their obligations. The private security seminar is held under the theme ‘Improved compliance in the private security sector’.

Department of Labour Deputy Director General: Labour Policy and Industrial Relations, Virgil Seafield, told the seminar that the department's efforts to establish a bargaining council for the sector had for years been frustrated by poor organisation in the sector.

Seafield said the employment patterns in the sector were changing and this called for a response to ensure the protection of vulnerable workers.

He said the sector faces challenges with safeguarding workers’ social security after retirement and reducing the compliance burden.

Shadrack Matsela, Free State and Northern Cape chairperson for the Professional Transport and Allied Workers Union (PTAWU), applauded the Department of Labour for convening the seminar.

"As organised labour, we are of the view that the Department of Labour is on the right track in making sure that compliance is improved in our sector.

“We therefore hope and pray that this seminar will culminate in better working conditions for security officers. In the same token, we also call upon the department to go for immediate prosecution of all transgressors of labour laws," he said. – SAnews.gov.za