GroundUp reports that the Labour Court in Johannesburg has dismissed an urgent application by the Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu) for an interdict stopping retrenchments at SA Breweries (SAB).

This related to the company’s decision to retrench 233 employees. Fawu wanted the court to compel SAB to follow “fair procedure” in the retrenchment of workers already in progress at its local brewery. It also wanted the court to interdict SAB and its parent company AB InBev from instituting future dismissals.

Fawu Gauteng chairperson William Mokgase claimed that workers had faced continuous retrenchments since 2020. He accused SAB of replacing permanent workers with workers contracted through labour brokers. “They have the audacity to retrench workers and rehire them under brokers. This is turning decent jobs into cheap labour which is why we came to court on an urgent basis,” he indicated. Fawu’s lawyer argued in court that the retrenchments amounted to unfair labour practices, while SAB’s lawyers argued that the restructuring formed part of efficiency measures being implemented at the company.

Judge Molatelo Robert Makhura struck the matter off the urgent roll and advised the union to resubmit its application.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Silver Sibiya at GroundUp

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