For the past couple of days I’ve been in Johannesburg as part of a delegation of trade unionists, lawyers, academics and human rights activists from the United States and Europe who are investigating the labor practices of the world’s second largest security firm, Group 4 Securicor (G4S), in southern Africa. G4S is Africa’s largest security firm. It currently employs over 80,000 workers in Africa and has been expanding rapidly in recent years. The delegates have heard from representatives of G4S’s employees in South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Uganda, Cameroon, Congo DR, and Kenya about the company’s low wages, unpaid overtime, lack of health and death benefits, and aggressive opposition to unionization (something also practiced by the company’s U.S subsidiary, Wackenhut). One concern discussed at length at the meeting is the possibility that G4S will be awarded the (highly lucrative) contract for ensuring security at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

While the World Cup is no great shakes for most North Americans, many of rest of us consider it the world’s leading sporting event, and 2010 is the first time that it will take place on African soil. It promises to be a wonderful showcase, not just for South Africa, but for the continent as a whole. All the more reason that the South Africa authorities must ensure that the major contracts for the World Cup be awarded only to companies that practice socially responsible behavior. Group 4’s recent activities in South Africa would seem to indicate that it’s not a suitable candidate for consideration. According to SATAWU, the South African union representing 35,000 security workers, the company is the worst employer in the industry – a sector in which low wages and poor working conditions are endemic – operating in the country. South African trade unionists have told the delegation about episodes in which the company has denied black workers access to toilet facilities used by white workers, that management sacked and racially abused a black worker for the misdemeanor of taking a toilet break, and that one G4 manager beat a black worker that he found sleeping on the job. The worker spent two weeks in hospital and was then sacked; the manager still works for Group 4. The company’s lowest paid workers earn 1500 Rand per month (approximately $220) and get paid overtime only after having worked for 208 hours in a month. The company is also aggressively anti-union in South Africa, and has resisted vigorously organizing campaigns at its facilities.

Many of the corporations competing for contracts for the 2010 World Cup will be ones that respect the rights of their workers to form unions and treat them with dignity and respect on the job. These companies benefit from a cooperative relationship with employees and their representatives, including improved morale, lower turnover and improved standards. At the moment, Group 4 Securicor is not one of those companies. If the company were to cease its aggressive and frequently illegal practices, it too could enjoy the benefits of cooperation and maybe even win the contract to provide security at what promises to be a terrific world cup.