Unemployed residents of Germiston and the surrounding areas will no longer have to travel far to receive the free services provided by the Department of Employment and Labour.

This comes after the department this week reopened the Germiston Labour Centre in Gauteng which had been closed for four years. During this period, clients had to travel a bit further to access services.

“By reopening this centre, we are reaffirming the department’s commitment to serving the public and vulnerable clients. Circumstances beyond our control led to the closure but we are happy that we have now overcome this obstacle and the centre has opened.

“The closure of any labour centre means that surrounding areas are put under more pressure as they service clients that would have ordinarily been served by the closed centres,” said Tshepo Mokomatsidi, the Gauteng Chief Director of Provincial Operations on Wednesday.

The centre will be operational from Monday to Friday between 7:30am and 4pm.

The labour centre is located at the Standard Bank Building on 241 President Street, and boasts a staff complement of 130 officials. Twenty-five of these are the frontline officers who are called Client Service Officers while 16 are Labour Inspectors.

As expected, the centre will assist clients with their Unemployment Insurance claims as well as claims for Compensation for Workplace Injuries and Diseases.

The office, like any other labour centre in the country, has Public Employment Services (PES) officials such as Career Counsellors and Employment Service Practitioners who will provide PES services. This includes registering work-seekers onto the Employment Services of South Africa (ESSA) database, and registering employment opportunities that will later be matched with available work seekers in the department as well as the private sector.

Labour Inspectors will conduct a proactive and reactive inspections to ensure compliance with labour legislation.

Source: South African Government News Agency