Business Report writes that the Broadcasting, Electronic, Media and Allied Workers’ Union (Bemawu) on Wednesday slammed as "disrespectful and insensitive" suggestions by the SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) that workers were "up in arms" over no longer getting free biscuits.  

The SABC board appeared before the parliament’s communications portfolio committee on Tuesday, pleading its case to retrench 981 employees and 1,200 freelancers.  The board said it would cut provision of refreshments and not provide catering for meetings as part of efforts to recover the R3-billion it needs to stay afloat.  This riled Bemawu, which said the public broadcaster had portrayed workers as ungrateful and insensitive to its financial difficulties.  "To allege staff members, in the face of retrenchments, are up in arms because they no longer get biscuits at work, suggests SABC staff does not appreciate and realize their own dire situation and the financial crisis the SABC finds itself in – a situation solely caused by previous boards who failed to exercise its fiduciary/oversight duties," Bemawu said.  The union demanded that the SABC board publicly apologise to all employees and set the record straight to parliament.

• Read the full original report by Siphelele Dludla at Business Report

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