GroundUp reports that an urgent application to stop workers from striking at the Mister Sweet factory in Germiston was filed by the Premier Group at the Johannesburg Labour Court on Wednesday last week.
The giant company also asked the court to interdict workers from colluding with third parties to engage in any act of intimidation or violence against workers who were not participating in the strike, which has been ongoing since 19 August. Simunye Workers Forum, which represents the majority of the workers, intends to oppose the application, which will be heard on Tuesday. The workers are asking for the salaries of lowest paid workers be doubled from R6,000 to R12,000 per month, with R7 per hour increases for higher-paid workers. The company has apparently not budged from a 7% wage increase offer during negotiations over the past weeks. Meanwhile, 23 organisations from six provinces released a statement on 6 September in solidarity with the striking workers, and called for a boycott of Mister Sweet products. In the statement, the organisations, involved in housing, law, and labour, stated: “The Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity’s Household Affordability Index for August 2024 puts the cost of a basic food basket a month at R5,227.14. With just R6,000, workers must struggle to pay for food, transport, healthcare, education, and everything else. The wages that the Mister Sweet bosses pay the workers condemn them to poverty”.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Kimberly Mutandiro at GroundUp
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