The Ugly Face of Sub-Contracting and Privatisation

Almost 200 workers engaged by Ace Parking Services (APS) took to the streets in Johannesburg today, having served a strike notice two days ago, and in response have been locked out by their employer, Ms Juliet Paulsen the Director of APS.

What must be regarded as a shameful situation by any standards, the workers receive what can only be described as starvation wages. At present they receive a basic R10 per day from APS, and then have to make up the rest of their meagre pay through commission. Current rates of commission are 10% of takings. There are no benefits, no job security, no prospects, and no one to go to if you end up with zero commission.  What this means is that workers are lucky if they take home between R150 - R200 per week, and often less.

In addition, there is often aggravations with car owners who sometimes refuse to pay, and with the informal car guards who are being squeezed out of parking.

In contrast to the enforced poverty experienced by the parking collectors, the workers have calculated that they are handing over a minimum of R35,000 per day, and often more. That's R175,000  per week,  or R700,000 per month, of which just R70,000 is paid out in commission.

The style of management favoured by APS is also worthy of investigation, as is the fact that they were the only company who submitted a tender for the job. Immediate sackings are commonplace for any who raise objections. Those who fail to reach commission targets, are ‘grounded' for a day. A punishment that means they have to spend the whole day in the APS office and for which they receive only the basic R10.

There clearly is a mentality in APS which states that if you don't like it, you can leave, because there are many more desperate unemployed people ready to take over. This is the type of exploitation that should have perished long before 1994 and should not be on the streets of our cities disguised as service delivery.

Privatisation and Exploitation : Different Sides of Same Coin

This Union has consistently argued that car parking must be a local government responsibility, and should be properly regulated and managed, and importantly, subject to public scrutiny. To outsource it is to open the door for the type of super-exploitation that APS is undertaking. JMPD who outsourced this function should immediately review the contract, and insist on basic minimums in line with what has been negotiated with SAMWU.

This Union pledges its support to the workers currently being locked out by APS, and will actively challenge the right of APS to continue to pay starvation wages, and exploit workers as if they were less than human. We urge all of the APS workers to join a fighting union, SAMWU, and be part of a mass organisation to rid our city of these shameful practices.

Statement issued by Tahir Sema, SAMWU, June 8 2012

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