Today's Labour News

newsThis news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.

Tongaat Hulett business rescuers affirm that rights of employees will remain protected

Details

Tongaat HulettBL Premium reports that the Tongaat Hulett business-rescue practitioners (BRPs) affirmed on Thursday that in line with the Labour Relations Act (LRA), the rights of employees of the group would remain protected during the business rescue process.

In 2021 in SA, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Botswana, Tongaat had more than 28,900 permanent and seasonal employees in its peak season. Locally, nearly 15,000 permanent and seasonal farm workers are employed by sugar cane growers who supply cane to Tongaat’s plants. In line with the Companies Act, the BRPs met with Tongaat employees on Thursday for the first time since the company officially undertook business rescue proceedings a week ago. After the first meeting with employees, the rescue practitioners Trevor Murgatroyd, Petrus van den Steen and Gerhard Albertyn emphasised they had complied with the law in the form of the Companies Act and the LRA, saying that “employees’ rights remain protected during the business-rescue process”. The BRPs announced they were gearing up to meet creditors on 8 November. “In the interim, the BRPs are focusing on stabilising operations while seeking the requisite post-commencement funding,” they said in a statement. Meantime, all five Tongaat Hulett nonexecutive directors have resigned with immediate effect from the board and the various board committees on which they served. “The directors believe that the role they can meaningfully play in relation to the company in its present circumstances is extremely limited, and accordingly they have elected to resign,” said the group.

  • Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Michelle Gumede at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)


Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page