00:00 At 67 years old, Muklal Hariprasad works as a security guard in a primary school with
00:07 Shaw Security Services Limited, a job he has held for the past 12 years.
00:13 This widowed grandfather of two says his job is his only means of survival.
00:19 But having now gone eight months without a salary, he says he's forced to speak out about
00:25 the injustice he feels he and other employees at the company face.
00:31 We have not been paid on a regular basis.
00:33 This one, not paying the minimum wage, which became effective on the 4th of December 2019
00:40 to the 34th of December 2023.
00:43 The minimum wage, supposedly $17.50, we are still being paid $15.
00:48 The minimum wage, raised from $17.50 to $20.50, which became effective 1st of January, they
00:55 said, 2024.
00:56 The company said they paid $18 and not paid $20.50.
01:01 He says the company is contracted by the Ministry of Education to carry out security services
01:07 across 33 primary schools and a total of 64 employees are impacted.
01:13 He tells us that in recent months, a shortage of staff has led to some employees manning
01:19 schools around the clock, month after month, without relief.
01:24 Sometimes, one carries 50 days.
01:26 Sometimes, one carries 51 days.
01:30 I work all those days by myself, 24 hours.
01:34 I have to remain there right through for seven months, from the 9th of September to the 4th
01:41 of March this year.
01:42 Does that mean you've been living in the guard boot?
01:45 Yes, I'm living here.
01:47 This live-in security officer takes baths and meals on the job.
01:52 And he tells us he's not the only one.
01:55 My daughter is rough food for me.
01:57 Now, when we bathe in, I'll bathe back up the school on the hill.
02:01 And even if I have a little sponge in the boot, I'll sit and rest there.
02:07 So 24/7, for the past seven months, you've been in the guard boot at that school working?
02:12 Yes, ma'am.
02:13 The company said they don't have no body, and they sold.
02:17 And as a result of that, we had to pull up the vacancy, pull up the post line.
02:22 We can't leave the school abandoned.
02:23 We are doing that for $15 per hour.
02:27 He estimates he's owed close to $190,000 and is simply fed up of these working conditions.
02:36 Speaking off camera, another employee agrees it's simply too much to bear now.
02:42 When I started working at Circle Currency, it was nice.
02:44 I used to get paid every fortnight.
02:46 Then it changed to monthly.
02:49 Then they said that the government was staying long to pay them.
02:52 And I have been holding on.
02:53 I have been there through the good times, the bad times.
02:56 Even when I didn't have no workers, I would still stay.
02:59 But I am fed up, and I have to say something.
03:01 When TV6 News contacted the five listed contact numbers for Shore Security Services Limited
03:07 online, they weren't working.
03:10 We then called a number used by the employees and were greeted by a man who said we could
03:15 address our concerns to him.
03:17 When asked, he said the delay in salary payments is an issue that lies with the ministry.
03:23 However, Education Minister Dr Nayan Gatsby Dolly tells TV6 that their records show that
03:30 the last five payments to Shore Security Services Limited were in November 2023, January 2024,
03:40 two in February 2024, and one in March 2024.
03:45 Based on their records, she adds, the company has been paid up to February 2024.
03:52 We also asked the company about 24/7 shifts and rate of pay, but were told no comment.
04:00 Meanwhile, multiple calls to the Minister of Labour, Stephen McClashie, went unanswered.
04:07 Indi Raghuvanthi Kasing, TV6 News.
04:11 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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