About 1 800 workers employed at Parmalat SA factories have an anxious six months to wait as the Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu) joins forces with the senior management of the South African subsidiary in a bid to stave off job losses.
The union and top management met for the first time on Tuesday to clarify two main questions and also to discuss the way forward.
Said Fawu deputy general secretary Katishi Masemola at a media briefing: ”We met with Parmalat SA’s senior management this morning and raised several concerns revolving around two questions: the corporate and operational relationship between Parmalat Italy and its South African subsidiary; and whether the articles of association between Parmalat SA and its parent company guarantee the full autonomy of the former, including the possibility of confessing a recommendation to sell Parmalat SA if made by a ‘turnaround specialist’.”
Masemola said the union wants to see Parmalat SA continue to exist, given its profitable performance the past financial year, and the fact that it is one of the parent company’s best performers.
”If it is sold, it must be sold as a going concern and the workers transferred with existing terms and agreements,” he said.
Masemola emphasised, however, that in these times of uncertainty and anxiety, it is going to be ”business as usual” for the company.
He maintained that the entity should remain in place and should not be broken and sold in small units that may not require notifying the competition authorities.
”The underlying value of Parmalat SA lies in its current value … [it] will lose out if not sold voetstoots,” he said.
Masemola said more meetings are planned in the next few weeks in a bid to bind parties to certain principles contained in a memorandum of understanding.
He said Fawu will also be reporting back to the International Union of Food, which will be meeting with the Italian-appointed administrator and the man in charge of restructuring Parmalat Italy, Enrico Bondi, to discuss the turnaround of the troubled company.
”There must not be a rush to liquidate Parmalat SA … and consideration must be given to sell it as a going concern. Our first prize is to retain it,” said Masemola.
He said Bondi has six months in which to design a rescue plan, with a clearer picture emerging closer towards June 24 of what will happen to Parmalat and its subsidiaries.
Bondi has been placed in charge of Parmalat, Italy’s eighth-largest company, which entered bankruptcy protection last month after the company acknowledged massive and long-concealed holes in its accounts.
Masemola said PriceWaterhouseCoopers auditors had recently come to South Africa to verify the financial situation of Parmalat SA, and before leaving had indicated that they were happy with the financial system and corporate governance structures.
Masemola said there are indications the South African government is also willing to assist, with a meeting on the cards between the board of directors of Parmalat SA and the directors general of the departments of trade and industry and agriculture.
He said the union is not in favour of selling to multinational companies or to local dairy companies, fearing job losses as a result of restructuring.
Masemola said Bondi ultimately holds the fate of South African and international workers in his hands, and Fawu hopes that between itself, the local management and the International Union of Food, they can help shape his decisions in a favourable manner.
Meanwhile, Parmalat SA released a joint statement from itself and Fawu in connection with Tuesday’s meeting in Stellenbosch.
”The parties are committed to promoting stability in the company … and agreed that ongoing speculation about an imminent sale of the business of Parmalat SA is without foundation and, in fact, counterproductive.”
Both parties said they are confident that the business operations of Parmalat SA will continue to contribute to the South African economy and employment in the country. — Sapa
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