WHEN some Steers employees were seen doing gardening outside a franchise in a viral video, Mzanzi social media erupted. Steers were quick to issue a statement saying, among other measures, “the franchisee at their Menlo Park outlet had been issued a formal notice, and all managers at the restaurant are immediately being retrained on labour practices.”

So what happened here? Employees usually found behind a counter were outside, sunning themselves, after the gardening service failed to arrive. A chance to get some fresh air at the same pay, better work conditions, it would seem like a no-brainer, only it wasn’t.

The problem involves ‘role-boundaries’, and not being able to set or defend roles within the corporate sphere, is behind a major problem I faced at Media24.

So why the two-tier system — if you happen to be ‘black’, you can complain and others will complain on your behalf, but try being Jewish and complaining about the violation of role-boundaries, unacceptable mission creep, or a ‘work of a similar nature clause’ in a contract that doesn’t exist?

You can read about my experience with this problem here.

My article notes the issue of being assigned work outside of the scope of a news sub editing position, and we not flipping burgers here.

The request by management to supply writing under my own byline, my own copyright, which turned into a demand to supply the same work sans copyright, was subsequently rejected out of spite, and what I refer to here as plain and simple racism.

Transcripts of the proceeding will also demonstrate the issue of being press-ganged (by the racist press), into handing out copies of a new Media24 community newspaper title. My refusal to attend the second of such ‘team-building’ exercises, following major delays and the paper going to print after midnight, with a dispute about the exact time of a ‘team-building’ meetup.

Apparently I was expected to return to work at 5am, which meant getting up at 4am. (Mr Cheathole, put that in your pipe and smoke it.)

Lets discuss the role-creep further.

How does a sub-editing role, end up turning into a role as ‘hoof van kuns en vermaark‘ at the same pay grade?

How does sub-editing copy turn into copy-editing, layout and design as well as news-gathering, generating news stories AND training cadets?

How does my attendance at a mixed-race music venue after hours, translate into being beholden to the corporation?

I can go on and on about the defects at Media24 and the corruption within our courts, but lets stop there, and consider the crickets.

Two decades of total silence from the same people bleating about the Steers incident, because being Jewish in Mzansi, entails living with a two-tier legal system, the very antithesis of equality before the law.

Tag: steers