Live couldn’t miss the loud noise from an enchanting crowd on De Beer Street in Braamfontein yesterday. I took photographer Kevin Tshabalala with me to get you Live readers the latest, freshest scoop on the streets of Johannesburg. As we approached we could notice the protesters were from the Food and Allied Workers Union.

Protesters claim to have been protesting for three weeks but their demands have fallen on deaf ears. We spoke to Lekgotla Morake, a National Sector Organiser in Sales and Merchandise who told us more about the matter. He told us they are striking about bad working conditions and low salaries where people get paid as little as R1000 per month. These are mostly young people who work in supermarkets like Pick n Pay, Shoprite, and Checkers. Morake claimed that workers were exploited and harassed because most of the workers’ salaries are reduced by agencies who hire them.

“We have come here to the Department of Labour to ask the Government to intervene because our complaints are not being heard. We have 40 companies on these merchandisers with 32,000 memberships, and most of these members are young people,” said  Morake.

For more information about the union, visit http://www.fawu.org.za/.