BL Premium reports that KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN’s)largest mushroom farm, Denny Mushrooms, has retrenched all its staff, leaving hundreds of workers jobless after an alleged arson attack brought the operation to its knees last September.

A well-placed source within Libstar Holdings, which owns Denny Mushrooms, indicated on Tuesday that 315 farm employees, including artisans, pickers, office workers and managers, had been retrenched after a decision was taken in December to shut the operation for good. However, Denny Mushrooms said on Tuesday that, while all its staff had been retrenched, the insurance claim had not yet been finalised in full and a decision had not yet been made regarding the longer-term future of the farm. The company said that together with the CCMA, it had “consulted extensively” with employees. “The unanimous decision of our employees was to accept retrenchment, which meant that all employees, except a small number of core employees who could be deployed in different parts of the business, received termination of employment compensation.” This facilitated access to unemployment benefits for affected employees. Wage-earning workers were apparently retrenched about two months after the fire and the balance of salaried staff in December. Some employees had been offered transfers to farms in Gauteng and the Western Cape but were reluctant to move away from KZN. No arrests have been made in connection with the arson.

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

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