Eyat workers threaten legal action over unpaid salaries

November 4, 2014 (WAU) – Over 300 workers from Eyat roads construction company based in the Greater Bahr el Ghazal region have threatened legal action over allegations they have not been paid for two years.

“We have been waiting and waiting from the company to pay our two years grants until now, but the company have not been taking our grievances as [a] serious matter, but right now, we cannot tolerate [it] any more,” said workers’ representative Hassab Alla Osman.

“Eyat was giving us empty promise that it would pay us at the beginning of October last month, but now the month has past without any payment given to us. Therefore, we have started our legal process through [the] Office of Human Labour in Wau,” he added.

He said the Labour Office had begun calculating the amount Eyat owed to its workers, threatening legal action if the company continues to resist payment demands.

Osman said former Eyat employees across the region are ready to file a case against the company if it continues to withhold salary payments.

Eyat is a Sudanese commercial company established in October 2002.

The company has been active in the construction and repairs of roads and bridges in South Sudan since the signing of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which culminated in the young nation seceding from Sudan in 2011..

In November 2010, Eyat engineering company workers took strike action in protest over the sacking of four Southerners.

Employees have previously described working conditions at the company as oppressive, accusing management of favouring Sudanese and foreign staff while discriminating against Southerners in the workplace.

(ST)