The South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers’ Union (Saccawu) on Monday warned of a looming strike over wages with retail giant Pick n Pay.
This comes after the union declared several labour disputes with the retailer, said union spokesperson Mike Abrahams.
”Workers demand R500 across the board increases, a minimum of R3Â 000 for a one-year term. The company’s offer stands at R320 with a minimum of R2Â 575,” said Abraham.
Saccawu also wanted a one-year agreement while the company says the agreement must run for three years.
”Workers are extremely angry about this,” said Abrahams.
He added that the reconstruction process at the company, which included rebranding, had changed the company’s attitude towards the union.
He said the rebranding process resulted in the overpayment of foreign consultants and that foreign nationals had been recruited into management positions.
”Everybody seems to be in agreement the horrible new logo is not worth the R110-million. Now, when hard toiling workers and their union put forward reasonable wage demands, the company uses the costs of restructuring as an excuse to deprive workers of a decent wage increase,” he said.
Workers are angered by these developments and should the company fail to meet their reasonable demand, a fierce showdown is inevitable, he added.
The union also accused the company of staging an attack against it while workers had to cope with the rising costs of food and petrol.
”The battle lines are drawn and the massive rolling strike action is looming,” said the union.
Spokesperson Tamra Veley said the company would comment later. – Sapa