A bloody fight has hit the roof after a garage owner and a white supervisor allegedly fastened a worker with ropes and assaulted him.
Distressed Michael Ladlokova should be forgiven for thinking that his employer was in a right mood when he asked him why he continued to pay him R6, 74 an hour, instead of the newly agreed minimum R500 weekly wages. He was wrong and his questions landed him in a hospital bed with blindly swollen eyes and reportedly serious facial injuries.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has lodged a Labour Court interdict to stop the assaults and threats on workers against Wayne Simons, the owner of Simons Auto Centre in Bellville, Cape Town.
This follows after employees at the garage who witnessed the assault on their colleague spontaneously vowed to boycott the workplace fearing for their lives. They stayed away from work for two days until the union intervened.
Ladlokova was allegedly threatened with attacks and forced to resign by the employer after he asked why he did not get the promised wage increase and that the wages was not paid into his banking account. He was severely assaulted allegedly by his bosses and left for dead after locking him into the office.
Colleagues who witnessed the incident after hearing screams forced the office doors open and ferried him to hospital for treatment.
Numsa is exasperated by this disgusting behaviour of the garage owner and his sudden decline to abhorrent racist fanaticism.
The giant service workshop has been the scene of furious racial scuffles when Numsa members in the area were mobilized to picket last year in support of their demand for the same employer to end racism at the workplace.
For further information contact:
Mziwakhe Hlangani, Numsa national spokesperson
Cell phone: 082 9407116
E-mail : mziwakheh@numsa.org.za