Monday 8 February 2016

Memorandum of Demands of landscaping, cleaning and other outsourced workers from UWC

Memorandum of Demands

08 FEBRUARY 2016

TO: Vice-chancellor and Rector;
CC: UWC Management; UWC Council

Dear Prof. Pretorius
We, the landscaping, cleaning, and other outsourced workers from the University
of the Western Cape resolved to remind you of our demands as follows:

1) We demand an immediate end to the outsourcing of jobs in all the above -
mentioned categories of employment. This demand should lead to the
termination of all contracts with service providers with immediate effect, so that
UWC directly employs all the outsourced workers on a permanent or full-time
basis.

2) We demand an immediate implementation of the minimum wage of R10
000 across the board. Our wages have remained stagnant, if not falling in the
past 15 years of outsourcing. Our families are starving, whilst the
principals/rectors and other university authorities, and ‘tenderpreneurs’
(contracted by UWC) gain from our hard work, and have become alarmingly
wealthy as a result, yet our lives remain the same.

The university allowance of R2000 is insufficient, even if it is combined with a
monthly wage of R2700, for a decent living, especially for the workers with the
greatest number of beneficiaries. Furthermore, the UWC allowance (R2000)
discriminates against casual workers who don’t receive this R2000 monthly
allowance.

3) Moratorium on retrenchments of all workers employed in contracts and/or
immediate reinstatement of all the workers recently retrenched through
termination of contracts with service providers.
We therefore declare that nothing about us without us shall henceforth be valid
and morally binding on us. In pursuit of this declaration, we resolved to constitute
ourselves into #EndOutsourcing & #UWCFeesWillFall campaign, with elected
and accountable representatives from each and every company that provide
services for UWC through which we shall negotiate and without which no
agreement binding shall be concluded.

We also convey our unwavering support to all the demands of the #FeesMustFall
Movement for free, quality education and decent learning conditions in all the
institutions and pledge solidarity for all their future actions in pursuit of these and
other legitimate demands for people’s education.

We appeal for solidarity and active support from all the students, administrative
and academic staff of the university to our demands, struggle and any action we
may be forced to take in pursuit of the above demands.

Please kindly note that should you fail to comply with our demands, consider
yourself duly notified of our intention to strike with effect from the 10TH February
2016 and campaign to appeal for public support to our struggle for decent jobs
and wages.

Kindly note that should UWC Management/or UWC Council wish to meet with us,
kindly advise us of such intensions in writing by no later than Wednesday, 10th

February 2016.
Best wishes

#ENDoutsourcing Campaign 
#UWCFeesWillFall
uwcshutdown@gmail.com

[signatures edited]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RECEIPT BY:
UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE
RECTOR & VICE CHANCELLOR
SIGNATURE:…………………………………….. DATE: 08 FEBRUARY 2016