Access Granted – Volunteer Food Handlers secure UIF benefits

3 years ago

A group of Volunteer Food Handlers in Gauteng demanded that schools and the labour department ensure timely access to their UIF benefits.

Former Volunteer Food Handlers outside the Vanderbijlpark labour office in Gauteng in 2023

In 2023, a group of Food Handlers in Gauteng supported LRS, mobilised to demand access to their Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) benefits, and won.

All Food Handlers involved in the campaign between April and November received their UIF payments. They demanded that schools and the Department of Employment and Labour must meet their legal obligations to ensure access to UIF benefits at the end of their two-year contracts.

Food Handlers, employed under the National School Nutrition Programme, are legally entitled to UIF benefits, with employers responsible for registration and monthly deductions. Yet many were unaware of these rights until participating in LRS-facilitated peer learning workshops.

Volunteer Food Handlers face many challenges accessing their UIF benefits, from inadequate record-keeping by school principals to a lack of interest and support from the Department of Employment and Labour. Challenges are compounded by a lack of information and confidence among food handlers, leaving many without a financial safety net. One former Food Handler described the struggle:

“The UIF process is depressing enough, and then I am being ridiculed and treated like a nuisance when I try to get my UIF. The school community is making a joke out of our poverty… I feel angry, and I don’t sleep because the staff humiliates me to the point I feel like an invalid.”

Former Volunteer Food Handler

Food Handlers built solidarity through WhatsApp groups, engaged the Department of Labour, and pressed school principals to fulfil their responsibilities. LRS supported the campaign by convening meetings, producing email campaigns and educational materials, and co-creating a video documenting the struggle of food handlers to access UIF.

Access Denied | A woman worker's struggle for social protection

Elizabeth’s story highlights the challenge of accessing UIF benefits for Volunteer Food Handlers and the devastating impact of the informalisation on women workers.

The campaign’s success extended beyond payments. It strengthened a growing network of over 200 Food Handlers in Gauteng who now understand and can claim their rights. This self-organising opens the possibility of mobilising nationally to ensure that workers involved in the National School Nutrition Programme, a crucial government initiative for poverty alleviation, can assert their rights.

Former volunteer food handlers voice their concerns and demands outside a labour office in Gauteng.

With my UIF, I have joined a group of women who go to Durban every month to buy stock and then with this stock, I can sell to the community. I also sell small packs of vegetables.

Former Volunteer Food Handler