Edcon, owner of Edgars stores, has rejected claims by trade union official that the company is increasing casualisation and exploiting workers.
The claims were made to the Mail & Guardian by Simphiwe Nikiwe, national organiser of the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu) in the wake of Edcon’s results two weeks ago. (“Shadow over Edcon’s growth”, May 14). Edcon was asked to respond to Nikiwe’s allegations, but failed to do so before publication. Nikiwe said that after the acquisition of Super Mart two years ago, the company had converted many full-time employees into “permanent part-timers”, a lower status.
Urin Ferndale, Edcon’s HR director, strongly denied the claim. Ferndale noted that the group had 2 000 vacancies across all levels. “If anything, we are looking to upgrade permanent part-timers to full-time workers.” He added that the only time posts would be downgraded was in response to a crisis, such as an underperforming store.
In his interview, Nikiwe also called for the improvement of conditions for permanent part-timers and casuals, two vulnerable classes of employees. Ferndale suggested these were being attended to. He said that because of the restricted hours permanent part-timers work (either a minimum of 72 hours or 108 hours a week) they could not be paid overtime.
Ferndale added that when a new retail sector determination launched in March last year, Edcon had already exceeded the minimum wage requirement of R10,15 an hour. The group also provided benefits, which included a funeral policy and a provident fund.
In response to Nikiwe’s claims of growing casualisation, Ferndale said casual workers received the same training as full-time staff. Over time, the casual category would be eliminated. At the same time, Edcon shop stewards from six regions released a statement describing their relationship with Edcon as “progressive”.
They neither refute nor mention Nikiwe’s claims. They said wage talks in the group had been concluded without strike action for the past five years.
Saccawu representative Piet Manjela said: “There is room for improvement” in employee conditions, but negotiations were continuing.