Contracted security guards performing duties for the Region Four Regional Democratic Council (RDC) yesterday protested over the non-payment of their salaries for last month.
Dozens of security guards–mainly female–gathered at the Region Four head office at Triumph early yesterday bearing placards and voicing their frustration at the fact that they were either yet to receive payment for the month of November or that they had received less than they had expected.
The guards were previously employed by Strategic Action Security Services to provide security at various schools, health centres and other government entities within the region, but the contract for the work was awarded to RK Security Service on November 16, 2009 (Strategic Action Security Services, owned by a Mr Kanhai, has since taken RK Security Services to court over the contract). The majority of the guards subsequently agreed to work with R.K Security Service, which they are now accusing of reneging on a promise to maintain the rates paid by Strategic Action Security.
Some workers said that they received two weeks’ pay but it was lower than expected. They stressed that this was unfair, especially since it is the Christmas season. One security guard, Steve Steele, said he only received $7,500 from RK Security Service when he was expecting to receive $10,200. He said he had been employed with Strategic Action Security Services since 2005 and was paid a rate of $117 per hour. According to him, when he was notified of the change in ownership he agreed to work with the new security firm at the same rate.
He said that when the guards were told they were going to be paid $100 an hour they objected and said they should be paid the same rates they were being paid earlier or even more. He said that RK Security Service agreed not to pay them less than what Strategic Action Security Services was paying.
Another security guard, Wynette Albert, told this newspaper that the workers were forced to endure hard circumstances in their working environment and deserved to be treated better. She said that she was working at a school where there was not even a guard hut or proper washroom facilities.
However, the accusations being levelled against RK’s Security Firm have been strongly denied by its Chief Executive Officer Roshan Khan, who opined that the entire protest was “staged” to make his company look bad. He admitted that there had been some delay in the payment of the workers because his firm had only been paid by the RDC on Friday. Khan said workers are currently being paid by his establishment and stressed that all guards who worked will be paid. According to him, there are 425 security workers in Region Four and it would cost his company about $6 million to $7 million to pay them.
Responding to the allegations that workers are being paid below the agreed wages, Khan said that the workers are being paid according to the minimum wage in the country. He disclosed that they were being paid $100 an hour.
While admitting that this was less than what the guards were earning previously, he said he made it clear to the workers that they would be paid more if they enrolled and passed various courses offered at his establishment. He emphasised that he pays his workers based on their qualifications.
Khan further told Stabroek News that some of the workers protesting were not even employed by his company, since they never signed any documents. He said others took a week before they joined his company and therefore they are only entitled to one week’s pay.
Meanwhile, when contacted last evening, Regional Chairman Clement Corlette told Stabroek News that the council was forced to intervene to bring a quick end to the current impasse between the workers and the management of RK Security.
Corlette, however, ex-pressed his concern at the manner in which RK’s Security was granted the new contract. He said while it was granted under a public procurement process, the Regional Council was not approached about the entire matter regarding the hiring of a new security firm.
