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Durban July at risk with Phumelela Gaming and Leisure aiming to retrench 500 workers

Details

PhumelelaBusiness Report writes that Phumelela Gaming and Leisure has confirmed that it is in the process of retrenching at least 500 workers and closing some of its Betting World and Tab stores because of the dismal state of the economy.  

In a statement on Wednesday aimed chiefly at allaying fears of disruptions to the Vodacom Durban July at Greyville this weekend, Phumelela said it had undertaken a Section 189A retrenchment process, facilitated by the CCMA, because it had no option but to close a number of stores that were not operating profitably.  Yet, the Academic and Professional Staff Association’s (Apsa’s) Professor Boitumelo Senokoane said there were no standing agreements with the union on either the Durban July, or retrenchments, and that the union would continue to oppose the retrenchments.  Senokoane said the union had been in talks with Phumelela over the retrenchments, which had been whittled down to 500 workers from an initial proposal of 800 in March, until the leisure group abandoned negotiations.  “We will still be disrupting the Durban July over the retrenchments; we are opposing the retrenchment of some of our members,” he indicated.  Senokoane confirmed that the retrenchments would affect the two divisions and that the union would work on halting the retrenchments altogether.  According to Phumelela’s Danie Theron, the offer to the Betting World staff had been amended and the revised offer had been submitted to Apsa for a response.  But Senokoane dismissed this, saying that there had been no discussions since Phumelela staged a walk-out on negotiations and talks collapsed.

  • Read the full original of Banele Ginindza’s report on the above story on page 19 of Business Report of 4 July 2019
  • Read too, Union threatens Durban July over retrenchments, at BusinessLive


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