Young Woman Challenges Chinese-owned Store Flouting SA Labour Law

A young woman who thought she was lucky to get a job at a Chinese-owned retail store in a mall close to where she lives gave up in disgust after only three days. We caught up with her to learn more about her campaign against the store owners, and about the person behind the viral video.

With matric and 5 years of call centre experience, Chandré Meyer, 22, from Elsies River on the Cape Flats, recently applied for a job at Urban Stores, a Chinese-owned retail store at Avonwood Square mall close to where she lives.

In a video that went viral, (watch it further below), Chandré shared her experience and proclaimed that she was going to take action to expose the illegal and exploitative labour practices committed by the owners of the retail store.

While many praised Chandré for standing up for her rights, others accused her of being “ungrateful in an economy with such high unemployment”.

What she did feel compelled to respond to, however, were comments mocking the way she spoke in the video. She says she deliberately chose to speak in Cape Flats English because it would resonate with young people her age, despite being perfectly capable of speaking formal English.

From our conversations with her, we can assure you that Chandré Meyer is articulate, well-spoken, has an impressive vocabulary and displays a high level of intelligence.

Looking Past Red Flags

When she applied, she decided to overlook all the red flags and would tough it out for the measly R800 a week because the job seemed like a good opportunity. It would be her first stint in retail, and she was actually looking forward to trying something new.

Chandré explained to us that she wasn’t and still isn’t exactly desperate for a job, but saw it as an opportunity to speed up saving towards her tuition for next year when she will enrol at an FET college in a beautician’s course.

“I found that I had a passion for doing nails, but because I am self-taught and do not have any certification, I could not legally operate as a beautician.”
“I’m a very creative and artistic person; I draw, I sing, I write stories, and when I do nails, it feeds that creative part of me.”

“The retail store job seemed like an opportunity close enough to where I live to quickly get closer to funding my tuition for my certification next year, and that would help towards my goal of opening a salon to do nails, lashes, makeup, hair, and offer other related services and products.”

She says the retail job seemed like a convenient stepping stone and an opportunity close to home.
It didn’t strike her as odd that the shop was specifically looking for applicants between the ages of 18 and 24, but she was slightly taken aback that management insisted on keeping copies of her ID and SARS Tax Certificate before she was even confirmed to be an employee.

When Chandré got the call to start on the Monday morning, she decided that she still wanted to give it a go, even though the work hours were far above the legal standard of a 45-hour week and the weekly wages, at R800, were far below the current South African National Minimum Wage (NMW) of R30.23 per hour, which for a 45-hour week calculates to R1350,35.

Three Days Were Enough

The first day brought several surprises.
“After the first day, I felt like someone who worked on a site, the way we had to carry heavy boxes.”
“You are not allowed to sit. If you want to go to the toilet, you must ask, and if they say no, it’s no.”
Store workers are also not allowed to use the bathroom in the back of the shop, but have to use the mall’s public toilets.

The next big shock was that starting at 8:57am, as the store opens at 9am, Chandré got her first break at 3pm, and it was only that one 30-minute break, with no tea breaks before that or after that.

Still, Chandré was willing to give it a go, but it was on the second day that the rude, insulting behaviour from the manager/owner started to bother her.
She says the owner continually undermined her intelligence, calling her ‘ stupid’. She felt sure they thought she was unaware of her rights under South African labour laws. By the third day she had had enough and quit.

In the second half of the video, she broadened her focus from her own experience to what she alleges were widespread labour law violations affecting other workers, vowing to take action against the store.

Speaking Up for Others

In the video she also theorises why the store appeared to recruit only Coloured girls in a specific age bracket from the poorer parts of Elsies River. She believes younger women desperate for work are less likely to know their rights or risk asserting them for fear of losing their jobs.

Chandré says her decision to speak out goes beyond her own experience. Although she only worked at the store for three days, she says she met workers who had endured the same conditions for months and felt they had no choice but to remain because of the lack of employment opportunities.

According to Chandré, workers alleged that they were often not paid on time and received no confirmation that wages had been processed. She further claims employees were required to work excessively long shifts, sometimes staying behind to clean the store without overtime pay, while requests for days off or family responsibility and bereavement leave were allegedly refused. She also alleges that staff were employed without written contracts, payslips or leave records, while wages were determined according to how management believed employees had performed, with a maximum weekly wage of R900 – well below South Africa’s National Minimum Wage.

Among the other labour practices she intends reporting are the store’s recruitment policy, which she says limits applicants to between 18 and 24 years old, and allegations that management retained employees’ identity documents and other certificates while making threats when staff questioned their treatment.

Health and Safety Allegations

Chandré also raised what she believes are serious public health and safety concerns. She alleges that another worker claimed Chinese staff spat into the sink in the back of the store and she was warned not to drink the tap water there. She further claims that Chinese staff members consumed alcohol while on duty behind the counter and became increasingly aggressive and verbally abusive after drinking.

Equally concerning are her allegations regarding products sold to customers. Chandré claims someone discovered mould inside a container of hair gel and was told that the owner would simply remove the visible mould before placing the product on special. She also alleges that workers warned her sister not to buy discounted skincare or haircare products because they believed expired items were routinely marked down for sale.

Taking Action Using The Legal Route

Determined to pursue the matter, Chandré has begun lodging a dispute with the CCMA over alleged unfair labour practices, including a wage dispute. She also intends reporting the store to the Department of Employment and Labour over alleged non-compliance with the National Minimum Wage and other labour law violations, the Department of Health over the alleged hygiene and product safety concerns, and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) over what she believes may be tax and UIF-related irregularities.

She is also calling on current and former employees to come forward with evidence of low wages, messages, photographs or any other information that could support the complaints. Customers who believe they may have suffered adverse reactions after purchasing products from the store are likewise encouraged to contact her and share their experiences.

Because Chandré appeared unusually knowledgeable about labour law, we asked where that interest came from. It turns out she has long considered working in the legal field or starting an organisation to help young people deal with the challenges they face when trying to access opportunities.

WATCH Chandre Meyer Challenges Chinese-owned Store Flouting SA Labour Law

Dreams Beyond the Call Centre

“People actually claimed that I made the video ‘in the hope of someone offering me a job’, but that is the furthest from the truth, and in fact people have been sending me job opportunities long since before and even more so after the video, but I simply do not want to work in a call centre environment again. I have passed on all those opportunities to others who actually want to work in call centres.”

“I know that there are many job opportunities in call centres. I’ve worked in many contact centres, and it’s a cutthroat industry; you need to have guts, and not everyone can do it. For five years, that’s what I’ve been doing, and I’ve seen people have anxiety and panic attacks, people leaving after the first day.”

Chandré recalled a time when life was much more difficult for her and she had to start call centre shifts in the middle of the night, leaving her with no choice but to walk long distances alone at 2am.

She says call centres are no longer where she sees her future. With the support of her partner, the father of her two-year-old daughter, she now wants to pursue the work she is truly passionate about.

A Passion for Social Justice

“Obviously I can’t do everything all at once, and the retail job was just going to be something along the way, and when the salon goal is achieved and running well, I would like to find a way to enter one or other aspect of the legal profession.”

“Along the way, I would also like to start an organisation to help those youths who don’t have access to technology to find better resouces and opportunities, and even to help them apply for jobs. In some parts of our community, many youths don’t even have smartphones, as not everyone is privileged to have those types of things, and with everything being technologically more advanced than ever before, their futures depend on their access to technology.”

“I want to create opportunities for people to do what they love and not feel like they need to stay in bad environments because they don’t have a choice. They do. Their voices and opinions matter, and we all deserve to be happy in a healthy working environment.

In the video, and during the interview, Chandré articulated that she against xenophobia and doesn’t have anything against Chinese people. She believes that legal immigrant foreign nationals running businesses in South Africa should comply with all aspects of South African Labour Law and treat employees in a dignified manner.

“I just really want things to change; we aren’t lazy to work, but our desperation shouldn’t be seen as an opportunity for us to be abused and to tolerate humiliation. We all want to work. We all deserve better opportunities.”

Beyond One Retail Store Breaking the Law

In a community ravaged by unemployment, it is perhaps understandable that some people will say, “At least the young people are being given jobs.”

What we need to ask ourselves is whether, in a country with some of the strongest protections for labour rights contained in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the Labour Relations Act, we should allow any business operating in our communities, whether owned by locals or foreigners, to exploit our desperate youth.

Aside from the fact that paying employees below the National Minimum Wage is illegal, there is a huge difference between working for an employer who is strict and one who has complete disregard for the dignity of their employees.

Do we really want our youth to have their dignity trampled on and literally be treated like slaves?