Billy Ntaote
MASERU — Security guards working for a prominent security company are accusing management of threatening to close the company whenever workers air their grievances.
Security Unlimited workers’ union chairman, Moetsuoa Debeshe, said the security guards complain that most of their problems emanate from the use of a Cyclops unit, a sensor which assists guards on premises.
The unit consists of sensors around sensitive or valuable equipment at the beginning of their shift.
Anyone coming onto the site is detected by the Cyclops sensors and the security officer onsite is called in less than one second on his handheld radio and informed of the intrusion.
The sensor then opens a mic line so the guard can hear what is going on in the area so they can take appropriate action to protect the site.
In fact, through this device, people manning the control centre of a security organisation can detect whether or not the guard on site is patrolling the site as required by security regulations.
Debeshe says the guards want to be furnished with manuals on the use of the Cyclops unit since they always have their monthly salaries and bonuses deducted due to claims that security guards tamper with the unit.
“We always find our salaries and bonuses deducted if we are suspected of having failed to use the Cyclops unit properly or if management thinks we have tempered with the unit,” Debeshe said.
Debeshe said security guards suspect that the Cyclops unit emits radioactive frequencies that could pose health risks.
Echoing Debeshe’s sentiments, the workforce’s secretary general, Nkasele Lepheana, said the security guards alleged they had illnesses that they contracted after being exposed to the use of
the Cyclops unit.
The workers had told the employer that some of them were suffering from insomnia, fatigue, stress, arthritis, boredom and suspect the deaths of some employees in the past could be attributed to unknown side-effects emanating from use of the device.
He said demands to be furnished with manuals on the use of the patrolling unit were never met which has left them with the impression that there should be something about the Cyclops unit that management was hiding.
Lepheana and Debeshe said there was need for research to be made on the use of the Cyclops and there should be adequate training on the use of the unit as the workforce believes they have not
been given enough information about the unit.
The workers allege they were told to withdraw allegations about the company’s Cyclops unit.
Lepheana said Security Unlimited’s decision to stop negotiations until the workforce retracted or proved allegations that the Cyclops unit was responsible for deaths and illnesses was unfair for the workforce as they had other claims relating to proper protective clothing.
Lepheana said the workforce also has grievances that the company’s compensations for working 12-hour shifts is not enough and there should be more money paid for not having lunch breaks.
He said there is a need for the workers to be provided with protective clothing such as freezer suits, force boots, scarves, hand gloves and rain coats as the security guards work during winter and rainfall seasons.
Lepheana said the security guards are also concerned with the medical allowance which they said is very low as the company only pays them M20 and they are allegedly being ill-treated by the in-house doctor whom they claim always favours the employer in assessing their health.
The Security Unlimited workers recently wrote to the Labour Commissioner to intervene in the matter but the commissioner directed them to return to the negotiating table with the employer.
Security Unlimited Managing Director, Bryan McCarthy, rubbished “unfounded claims” over which he said he decided not to continue with any negotiations until the workers produced evidence or retracted allegations on the use of Cyclops unit.
He told the Sunday Express that being an elderly man, now aged 70, he found it hard not to consider retiring by closing the company or selling it.
He however said he was not threatening the workforce but he was indicating a reality that he is faced with which is his own personal choice and does not concern his workers.
McCarthy said no security company in Lesotho pays its employees better and offers better benefits than his.
He added he is already paying way above the minimum wage as security guards earn a monthly M1 800 and a monthly bonus of M150, over and above which he
also pays annual bonuses and funeral benefits.
Administrator, Mary Roux, said McCarthy had openly told the workers that he has had enough of workers who always bring frivolous complaints without
proving allegations they make about the company.
Commenting on the claims about inadequate medical allowances, Roux said the workers’ representatives do not understand the history of how the arrangement came about.
She however said the M20 medical allowance is paid to workers since a decision was made in 2006 that they receive their allowances together with their salaries as they would consult doctors of their own choice.
Roux said the company still has an inhouse doctor for any of the workers who are willing to consult him but it seems the workforce never anticipated that services at government hospitals that are free would not be adequate and private doctors would be expensive.
Roux said claims about being paid a low compensation for working during the lunch hour were not true as the company still compensates as per the Labour Code Order of 1992 by paying workers a quarter of their hourly salaries above the normal hourly rates the company pays.
On allegations about the Cyclops unit, Roux said the company decided that the workforce should produce death certificates of security guards who passed away to clearly substantiate their claims about the unit being responsible for deaths.
Roux said what is problematic about the workforce is that it has failed to substantiate its claims with evidence for many months since making the claims hence the decision by McCarthy that he has had enough and he would be considering retiring from the business.
She said the employees have failed to take HIV tests when asked to do so, but doctors on many occasions have found out that deaths are mainly caused by tuberculosis and pneumonia and are unrelated to use of the Cyclops unit.
Roux said the workforce has been referring to the unit as a machine but it is actually a small unit that transmits signals that are far less powerful than a two-way radio or even mobile phone.
She refuted claims that the unit produced radioactive frequencies saying the workforce is completely uninformed.
Roux added that the guards’ aversion of the device stems from the system’s ability to send signals to the control centre that a guard is either sleeping on the job or is not patrolling the premises as is the norm.
Information is sent at 20-minute intervals for officers at the control centre to keep track of movements on manned premises.
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