Netwerk24 reports that up to 40 employees of the Blue Ribbon bakery in Port Elizabeth on Monday made known their dissatisfaction over the company’s decision to workers with placards and burning tyres.  

The protest in front of Blue Ribbon’s building in Lindsay Street in Korsten began in the morning and lasted until midday.  No incidents of violence were reported and the police confiscated about 50 tyres.  The management of Premier Foods, which owns Blue Ribbon, confirmed that the employees have been on a protected strike since Friday.  A decision to close the bakery and use it instead as a depot, means that 61 employees will be retrenched.  A CCMA facilitation process led to 13 workers being transferred to other bakeries, but the other 48 employees received notice at the beginning of February of their dismissals.

• Read this report by Odette Parfitt in full in Afrikaans at Netwerk24

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