DURBAN - Financial services provider Old Mutual has been locked in negotiations with a workers’ union over a provident fund dispute for the past five months.
The Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (Sactwu) has accused the company, Gelvenor Consolidated Fabrics, of not paying towards a provident fund, which is run through Old Mutual’s SuperFund, for nine months in 2019.
The non-payment resulted in the liquidation of the fund, and workers have not been repaid for the contributions they made to it.
According to a former worker and shop steward Sandile Nene, who started working with Gelvenor in 2006, the company’s troubles began when it failed to pay rent for a building it occupied to run its business.
“Gelvenor had troubles with the landlord where it ran its day-to-day operations, when it failed to pay rent for a number of months. In the end, the company was not contributing to the Old Mutual pension fund, when it was deducting it from our salaries. The fund ended up liquidating the company due to it not paying for nine straight months,” said Nene.
Nene said they were robbed of their livelihoods.
“We are without work and received UIF money only over the last 12 months. We did not enjoy the last festive season, and now we are more frustrated due to the schools going back to normality, which means we will not be able to pay for children’s schooling, transportation as well as extra-curricular activities. We are pleading with Old Mutual to release our money and deal with the company,” said Nene.
Old Mutual’s Tandisizwe Mahlutshana confirmed that Gelvenor contributed to its provident fund until it fell behind on its obligation, resulting in the financial services provider activating section 13A.
“Gelvenor Logistics was actively contributing to the Old Mutual SuperFund until the company (Gelvenor) fell into arrears in 2019. As per Section 13A of the Pension Funds Act, administrators of provident fund benefits such as Old Mutual are obligated to report any defaulting employers to the Registrar of Pension Funds,” Mahlutshana said.
Daily News