UK's Top Multinational Subjects Guards to Unfair Working Conditions in Southern Africa

Africans employed by British multinational Group 4 Securicor face racial insults and are paid so poorly, they are forced to live in homes with no running water or electricity, according to a fact-finding team that has returned from South Africa, Mozambique and Malawi. The company, which helped bring the Olympics to London, is a likely bidder for security contracts.

“I met with G4S guards in Malawi who are so poorly paid they’re forced to make decisions no one, particularly a parent, wants to make—which child’s school fees should be paid.” Dave Ritchie, executive member Unite.

A fact-finding team, assembled by UNI Property Services interviewed G4S guards, their family members, union leaders and government officials about the security company's practices. They visited southern Africa April 16-20, 2007. Their findings are highlighted below:

Allowing racist behaviour to go unchecked
● Kaffirs and Monkeys Guards at the Oliver Tambo Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa allege G4S supervisors refer to them as kaffirs and monkeys. SATAWU, the union representing guards at the airport, had to petition for their removal.

● Whites Only Toilets Guards reported that in Pretoria, South Africa a G4S manager provides white employees with keys to the company toilet. Black guards are forced to use the toilet in a nearby mall.

Maintaining policies that keep guards in poverty
● Guards in Malawi earn typically around $27 per month, however they
could earn more. G4S requires guards to work 12 hours per day. Instead of increasing their hourly pay for the four hours of overtime they typically work each day, G4S reduces their wages by half. G4S maintains Malawi law allows it to do so; however this policy violates the company's own Terms and Conditions for Employees.

● In both Malawi and Mozambique, guards report they are not allowed to take paid leave. One guard from Blantyre, Malawi, reported that he had worked an entire year with only a single paid day off. He was allowed one day off to attend a funeral.

● In Mozambique, the company admitted to an arbitration panel it had not paid guards overtime for more than a decade -- from 1994 to 2005-- however it has refused to fully pay back pay to guards who were never compensated for their overtime hours.

● In Mozambique, guards owed redundancy payments when the company's contract with the U.S. Embassy wasn't renewed last year are still waiting for the company to act. Meanwhile many struggle to get by.

"Global companies like Group 4 Securicor have global responsibilities. The Olympic games are a venue for global companies that respect human rights everywhere they operate,” said Christy Hoffman of UNI Property Services.

“The racism and poor wages and conditions which G4S African workers suffer beggar belief. We call on Mr Livingstone to make decent treatment for all workers a condition for the company winning 2012 Olympics security contracts. But the British government must introduce binding regulation over UK firms' behaviour towards its overseas workers. Jackie Simpkins, War On Want.

The entire report can be found on www.union-network.org/property.

Press Availability Members of the fact-finding team, as well as Patrick Finyamowa, a G4S guard whom investigators met while in Blantyre, Malawi, are travelling to London and Berlin to share their findings with elected leaders, human rights campaigners, union members as well as NGOs with a special interest in Africa.

A special briefing hosted by the Transport and General Workers Union and War is Want is scheduled for Thursday, May 30 at 6 p.m. Verdi, Germany’s largest union, will host the delegation for a briefing in Berlin on May 31.

Background on Group 4 Securicor Group 4 Securicor employs more than 82,000 workers in 18 African nations. It is not only large, but it is growing. In 2007, it purchased two security firms on the continent—one in South Africa and another in Mozambique. Globally, G4S employs more than 470,000 workers in 104 countries.

The company provides an array of security services including guards for high-profile sports and entertainment events. In 2006 they obtained contracts from World Cup organizers in Germany. It's a likely bidder for contracts at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the London Olympic Games in 2012.

About UNI Property Services: UNI Property Services Global Union is an organization of labour unions from around the world that represent cleaners and security workers, among the world's most low paid and vulnerable employees.