BusinessLive reports that pharmaceutical manufacturer Aspen Pharmacare has joined a growing list of SA companies retrenching staff, with plans to shed up to 219 jobs at its Port Elizabeth and East London plants as it seeks to remain globally competitive.
Aspen is Africa’s biggest drug maker and has for the past year been disposing of noncore assets to manage its debt burden, which it cut from R53.5bn in December 2018 to R38.9bn by the end of June. Aspen group operating officer Lorraine Hill said on Thursday the company was working hard to minimise the effects of the retrenchment process. “This is not something that Aspen takes lightly and is a last resort in a transformation journey that has been transparent and involved employees and their input,” she said. Staff at Aspen’s affected facilities were issued with section 189A () notices of possible retrenchments in December. Its looming job cuts come on the heels of moves by Telkom, Massmart, Sibanye Gold and Samancor Chrome to trim their workforces. Sibanye Stillwater’s restructuring, announced in September, has seen it shed 1,142 jobs at Marikana.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive
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