
Online Reporter
A private security company is at loggerheads with a trade union that it says is illegally demanding membership subscription fees for some of its employees.
In a letter dated August 19, 2024, Private Security Workers Union general secretary Mr Godfrey Togara said Real Star Security was supposed to start remitting membership fees for 51 guards into its Nedbank nostro account.
Mr Togara said the remittances were a peremptory requirement and claimed to be representing the guards.
The company has, however, ignored the demand, which it deems as suspicious after its guards dissociated themselves from the union.
Lawyers representing the company last month advised the union that, in terms of the Labour Act, it had no locus standi to demand remittances.
They advised the union to make arrangements for subscriptions with individual guards who voluntarily sought membership.
The company said at law, it could not deduct money from its employees’ salaries for remittance to the union, especially where there were no signed consent forms.
It further argued that it was only liable to making payments to statutory agencies such as the Zimbabwe Revenue authority and the National Social Security Authority.
“The company owes US$1 285, which is six months subscriptions for 51 guards at US$4,20 per guard per month from August last year,” said Mr Togara when asked to speak on the standoff last week.
He produced consent forms purportedly signed by the guards.
However, some of the names are reportedly not on the company’s payroll.
Responding to union’s claim, the company said: “A company cannot go about releasing money to everybody who claims to be representing workers. Before making the demand for money, the union was supposed to formally or properly introduce itself to our directors. Thereafter, there was a need to present consent forms from our employees stating that they had joined the union and were amenable to deductions on their salaries towards membership subscriptions.”
The company said the interests of its employees were already protected by the National Employment Council (NEC) for the security industry.
Therefore, if any of its employees was interested in becoming a member of the union, the onus was on them to personally pay subscriptions.
“What is more confusing is that there is also another trade union called the Zimbabwe Private Security Guards Association. If 100 more such unions were to come to us asking for membership fees, would it be feasible to pay each and every one of them?” said the company.
Mr Togara acknowledged the existence of two unions, saying the guards were free to choose which one they would belong to.