BL Premium reports that as the indefinite wage strike at Massmart continues, the company is confident that it has enough capacity to serve its customers during the busy festive season irrespective of whether workers accept the retailer’s proposals or not.
Parties have refused to share details of proposals that could see workers going back to their posts within the retailer’s more than 400 stores in the country. The SA Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers’ Union (Saccawu), which claims to have about membership of 20,000 among Massmart’s 45,000-strong workforce, embarked on an indefinite strike on 19 November in support of its demand for a R500 increase across the board against management’s proposal of R320. The union is also disputing alleged unilateral restructuring and changes to terms and conditions of employment affecting the group's customer-relation officers. According to Massmart senior vice-president of corporate affairs, Brian Leroni, the industrial action at its peak “only attracted 42% support” from the union’s membership base. “We have maintained ongoing communication with Saccawu and are awaiting their response to proposals made during these discussions,” Leroni advised. He did not say what the proposals were. Saccawu national spokesperson Sithembele Tshwete indicated that the union was still consulting its membership on the proposals made by Massmart. “We want to get a mandate on whether to settle or continue with the strike,” he said. “It would be wrong to state in the media what the proposals are before our members have had a chance to interact with them,” he noted.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
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