Margibi County — Employees and contractors at the Salala Rubber Corporation have angrily abandoned work in protest against alleged bad labor practices by management.
The aggrieved workers are predominantly contractors, with very few employees who are tapping the company's rubber on a daily basis.
According to the investigation, the alleged bad labor practices have persisted for about three years without any remedy from management, constraining the workers from completely laying down tools.
Making demands to the management, the tappers, totaling about five hundred, are effecting a go-slow that has lasted for days.
This means that the rubber latex that brings millions of dollars to the company as a business is no longer being produced.
Our investigation shows that the SRC workers started the go-slow early this week and continued until today, Friday, June 21, 2023.
With almost everything at the company now at a standstill, workers (tappers) are demanding more than one dozen things from the management.
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Through a thirteen (13) - count document presented to the Salala Agricultural Workers Union or SAWU Leadership, the tappers request the SRC Management to renovate the housing facilities immediately. A bulk of the housing facilities in many of the company's camps are in deplorable conditions.
They also want management to provide the requisite tapping tools, complaining that when the tapping knife is dull or damaged, it takes more time before it is replaced; it should be used for at least three months.
The tappers are demanding proper medical treatment for workers and the acceptance of medical bills for extra expenses incurred during their illness while on the job.
They continue that management should subsidize the cost of a 50kg bag of rice by US$12 and make an additional 50 kg bag of rice available at a low cost.
They want transportation for workers and their dependents not living in the plantation of the company.
The tappers say bonuses should be differentiated from daily wages and that management must reduce the target from 1700kgs to 300kgs and subtract the target production before applying the water lost coefficient to the remaining for bonus calculation.
They simultaneously ask for a bus, as agreed upon earlier, instead of a pick-up used as an ambulance.
They want ID cards for workers and their dependents, including a referral hospital with clear documentation.
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The Aggrieved workers want management to agree to their grievances before they can return to work, noting that management has, over the years, refused to find solutions to these problems.
They lament that the challenges have persisted from 2022 to 2024, leaving them with no alternative but to stop production.
They decry prolonged delay in the collective bargaining agreement or CBA since August 2022.
Our investigation also established that instead of tapping between five hundred and six hundred rubber trees daily, the number has grown to 1,700 trees daily, which is strenuous. Editing by Jonathan Browne
