About 35 workers may be retrenched from the Sowetan and the Sowetan Sunday World, following the newspapers’ recent purchase by Johnnic Communications, the Media Workers Association (Mwasa) said on Tuesday.
The feared job losses stem from the recent purchase of the two newspapers from New Africa Publishing Limited and, according to Mwasa president Tuwani Gumani, about 16 Sowetan Sunday World and 19 Sowetan employees could be affected.
He said that the union and the newspapers’ owners are due to meet in terms of Section 189A (3) of the Labour Relations Act, which enables both parties to resolve the matter at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.
”The employer needs to justify the retrenchments in a very convincing way and this is a very useful route in terms of the law,” Gumani said. ”It allows for meaningful consultations … This way we are forced by law to seek consensus, opposed to ‘willing buyer willing seller’. They can’t just say they must retrench.”
Gumani said the Act allows both parties to ”look at things differently” but also allows for other steps such as deadlocks or industrial action.
He hopes the parties will meet next week to identify which positions will be affected. — Sapa