Security companies want clients to pay them a fixed hourly rate

By PISAI GUMAR   
Security companies have urged the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations and PNG Security Industries Authority (PNGSIA) to set a fixed hourly rate for clients to pay them.
This will enable them to meet employee welfare and necessary operational needs.
More than 200 security companies in Lae and nearby provinces shared their sentiments during a joint security companies compliance workshop facilitated by the Bank of PNG (BPNG) and PNGSIA in Lae last Friday.
The Investment Promotion Authority (IPA), Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) and Department of Labour and Industrial Relations (DLIR) also participated.
They educated security companies of their management operational roles and responsibilities under the law.
Some grey areas security companies raised were the absence of  fixed bidding rates, ownership of security companies, and training for guards.
PNGSIA registrar Paul Kingston Isari agreed that there was nothing regarding the bidding rate in the PNGSIA Act.
“That is one of the grey areas among many others you must tell me so that together we can fix these gaps.”
Isari said without a fixed bidding rate many clients were charged less than K4 per hour by security companies.
He said this was inadequate to meet their operational obligations, taxes, employee wages and super fund obligations.
Isari said ownership of a security company was open to both foreigners and nationals.
The positions of managers and security officers jobs were reserved for locals.
Isari said 11 companies submitted applications to train guards but only Guard Dog, OSS, G4S and Black Swan were selected based on the quality of their training facilities.