Retailer Woolworths said on Friday that the effects of the day’s industrial action — including the withdrawal of labour — at its Cape Town stores had been minimal, but the union warned that it will launch a nationwide strike on Wednesday.
“We don’t know the exact number of workers that stayed off work, but the impact is minimal and all stores are open,” said Zyda Rylands, Woolies’ chief operation officer: support services.
Hundreds of Woolies workers led by the South African Catering and Commercial Workers’ Union (Saccawu) — which claims nearly 1 000 people heeded the call — launched industrial action in Cape Town on Friday morning, following protests in Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal last month in a campaign for union recognition in dealing with workers’ issues.
“We are very happy with the numbers that turned out, given the fact Cape Town is not really our stronghold,” said Lucas Ramatlhodi, Saccawu’s spokesperson.
Rylands, who was unable to give the exact number of workers that stayed off work, claimed that the union does not have enough members at Woolies to be recognised, while Saccawu argued that more than 50% of Woolies employees belong to the union.
Both the union and the company seemed willing to verify the membership representation claims, with Rylands saying “we have always been willing to verify” union representation.
She added that the claim of less than 50% union membership in the company follows verification processes “a few months ago”.
“We could be wrong and we are willing to verify our claims, but Woolworths has consistently resisted all attempts to agree on a verification process,” said Ramatlhodi.
Saccawu further warned this week that the Cape Town strike was the “last straw” before it would embark on a fully fledged national strike.
Ramatlhodi said if the strike did not bring the desired results, the union would meet next week to decide on the way forward, without ruling out the possibility of a nationwide strike.
Asked if Woolies anticipated any further industrial action, Rylands said the company “has not received notification of the strike from the union”.
Previously Woolies said the industrial action in Johannesburg and Durban also had minimal effects on its operations. — I-Net Bridge