00:00President of the Estate Police Association, Derek Richardson, is taking aim at security
00:06firms for exploiting a loophole in the law. Working officers for 12-hour shifts while
00:11denying them the overtime payment they're entitled to. He says, the law is clear. While
00:18officers can work for 12 hours, after 8 hours, officers must be paid at time and a half,
00:25yet companies continue to ignore it, leaving workers overworked and underpaid.
00:31We wholly agree that 12 hours is a brutal...
00:35Yes, it is.
00:36...on the body and on the thing. The industry has been operating in this way. People seek
00:42additional hours, so like 16 hours, and then there's the illegal 24 hours, right? But what
00:50has happened because of the minimum wage and because of where they're treated and everything,
00:54they look for these hours. So we turn a blind eye because the officers are there. But certainly
01:00you cannot expect people to be at the optimum 12 hours each day, six, seven days per week.
01:08Richardson highlights the harsh realities faced by the officers, pointing to companies that
01:14unfairly deduct $100 from a worker's pay for simply calling in late if they cannot attend
01:21work, even when they earn as little as $20.50 an hour. He tells The Morning Edition, others
01:28who work as drivers are forced to hand over $50 monthly as a so-called accident insurance
01:36pool, with no refunds even after years of safe driving. He adds, these exploitative measures
01:44leave some of the hardest working officers in the country struggling to survive on already
01:50meager wages.
01:51The intimidation factor is so large that they are afraid to report the matters to the Labour
01:56Board into a union or join a union. So it is very exploitative and they have been allowed to continue
02:03with that because there's fear of victimization. There's the fear that if they go and report it,
02:10that they will lose their jobs. So they have been profiting for a number of years over these
02:17conditions. They place them in all manner of places. Let's see them all about you. Let's put
02:21them there and you leave them there. No proper water, no proper lighting, right, for them because
02:26they are, as far as they consume, they are worse than the dog. He's calling on security officers and
02:31association members who have been victimized and endure harsh conditions to take action and join
02:37a union or demand redress. His message is clear, enough is enough.
02:43Join a union. That is a right. Do not be afraid to join a union. Join the CW, join the National
02:49Workers' Union, you understand? The Estate Constable, join the Estate Police Association because if I read
02:55here two unions who picked up matters and were successful. So if everybody understands that if you
03:03go to a union and you have a grievance, that they can and will be successful at the courts.
03:09Richardson also thanked the Ministry of Labour for what he says are steps being taken to rectify the
03:15injustices faced by security officers. Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:22You are a policeman. He has a police officer.
03:28I will be doing a department that affects the unbuttoned and under Schüler.
03:33You can see it, there are people that are under thewheel, but you do have many supportive
03:37acts on the road. You can see it, as well. You are speculating
03:40that. You can see it, as well. So here I'm doing a way to see it.
03:43You can see it. You can see it. You are considering a couple of private
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