South African dairy company Clover said the 753 employees at the City Deep branch in Johannesburg may be retrenched but most of the workers will be accommodated at other Clover facilities.
“In our S189 notice relating to our City Deep facility, we indicated that 753 employees may be affected by the S189 notice but we can accommodate the majority of these employees at our other facilities and only nine employees cannot be accommodated,” said Clover.
However, General Industries Workers’ Union of South Africa (Giwusa) and the Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Fawu) said Clover had backed down on the mass retrenchment of workers at the City Deep factory.
A statement from the unions said they opposed the relocation of the City Deep branch and that, as a result of the strike, Clover had backed down on mass retrenchment at the site.
According to trade unions Giwusa and Fawu, in their last meeting with Clover management, the company offered to reinstate 763 workers who were retrenched in November 2021, with full pay for a further eight months. The unions disagreed with the offer from the company.
The unions said: “We will only agree to this if these workers are reinstated on full pay for the duration of the entire two-year collective agreement, with their wages to be reviewed as with all workers at the end of the collective agreement and on the basis of increases.”
BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE