Another worker loses a finger at Mister Sweet

Striking workers gather outside the Mister Sweet factory in Germiston. Photo: Kimberly Mutandiro / GroundUp

A second worker has lost a finger in an accident at Premier’s Mister Sweet factory in Germiston, according to the Simunye Workers’ Forum, as the strike by permanent workers enters its 11th week.

Workers say the company will not move from its offer of a 7% increase.

Simunye said the worker’s finger was severed by a wrapping machine. This is the second time a casual worker, employed to replace striking workers, has lost a finger in an accident.

According to Jacob Potlaki of Simunye, following the accident, the Forum tried to negotiate with Premier on 24 October to allow its experienced workers to go back to work. However, he said the company rejected the workers’ request for a R10,000-a-month wage for the lowest-paid employee. Their initial demand was R19,500 a month.

Potlaki said the Forum had heard that Premier is paying casual workers R12,000 a month, up to twice as much as permanent workers’ wages of R6,000 to R7,000 a month.

He said the company had begun to conduct interviews through a labour broker to replace striking workers.

Spokesperson for Premier Siobhan O’Sullivan acknowledged that workers had been injured at work, but did not confirm the nature of the injuries. She said the incidents had been reported to the Department of Labour and were under investigation.

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The company is continuously engaging with workers and their representatives, she said.

She did not comment on wages paid to casual workers.

Meanwhile, Belgian union FGTB Chimie has expressed its support for the strike. FGTB Chimie is part of La Centrale Générale-FGTB, with 400,000 members.

“We are following the situation closely and we will inform other trade unions in Europe and Africa about the situation at Mister Sweet,” federal secretary Andrea Della Vecchia said in a statement. “We support the workers’ demands for a living wage and a significant wage increase.”

Workers told GroundUp they are running out of money. A 62-year-old operator who has worked for Mister Sweet for more than 30 years said she had lost hope that the company will agree to their terms. She fears losing her job.

“I am now facing retirement and my pension money is too little. The fact that the strike has continued for this long shows that the company does not care about us,” she said.

Another worker said he would not give up the strike. “Going back to work now means we would have gone on strike for nothing,” he said.

This article was originally published on GroundUp.

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