The Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu) will meet Parmalat South Africa management next week to get clarity on a plan designed to restructure the Italian diary giant, brought to the brink of liquidation by allegations of fraud and corruption.
”We haven’t laid our hands on the rescue plan as designed by [Enrico] Bondi, but have heard from our colleagues at the International Union of Foodworkers the plan is out … we have no details,” Fawu deputy general secretary Katishi Masemola said on Wednesday.
Masemola said some of the concerns the union wants to have addressed relate to the rationalisation of brands, such as South Africa’s Bonita range, and the concentration on value-added milk-based products and beverages.
”We are concerned this means Bondi’s strategy will be to exit from the mass market of pasteurised milk,” said Masemola.
Bondi is Parmalat’s government-appointed special commissioner who is in charge of the company’s restructuring.
Parmalat was last year declared insolvent and placed under supervision of turnaround expert Bondi, when it was revealed that Bonlat, a Parmalat subsidiary, did not have $4,9-billion it had claimed was in a Bank of America account.
Masemola reiterated Fawu’s view that if Bondi were to arrive at a decision to dispose of the mother company’s subsidiaries, then it must be done on a going concern basis, and not preceded by liquidation in order to get all workers’ employment transferred on the same terms and conditions to new owners.
”In the case of Parmalat SA it is our definite stance that if this financially healthy subsidiary is not retained … [it] must not be liquidated but sold as a going concern,” said Masemola.
He said Fawu wants Parmalat SA sold to local companies and not multinational companies. The union will oppose any sale of Parmalat to the three main diaries currently operating in the country — Clover, Dairymaid-Nestle and Dairy Belle.
”We will utilise avenues provided by the competition law and other legislation and will pursue a political route to lobby government intervention.”
Masemola did not want to speculate on the possible impact restructuring could have on the 900 — out of 1 800 employees — Fawu members working at Parmalat, saying he would be ”thumbsucking”.
Meanwhile, Parmalat SA’s spokesperson Werda Biesenbach said the meeting on Monday is ”purely routine”.
Biesenbach, however, confirmed that the international restructuring will be on the agenda.
She said Parmalat SA is the ”strongest” of only 10 countries out of a previous 30 where the group will focus on the production and distribution of dairy products and fruit-based beverages. — Sapa