BusinessLive reports that at 3pm today (Friday), Loraine Ngubane will knock off work for the last time at Rainbow Chicken (RCL) Foods’ plant in Hammarsdale, about 50km west of Durban.
She is among 1,350 workers in the company who will be laid off this week as the sector reels from what it says is an influx of chicken imports. Ngubane has worked at RCL Foods for 10 years, but her future, and that of her family, looks bleak. The job cuts will go ahead despite last-minute, relentless discussions among unions, the government and producers. Scott Pitman, MD of RCL Foods’ consumer division, said the company was doing all it could to assist workers who stood to lose their jobs and that an extensive social plan was being developed for the retrenchments through consultation. The Food and Allied Workers Union’s (Fawu’s) August Mbhele said the union had not given up on efforts to convince employers and the government to consider options other than retrenchment.
- Read this report by Nce Mkhize in full at BusinessLive
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