Hundreds of striking Woolworths employees stormed through a store in Johannesburg’s CBD on Thursday, intimidating employees and assaulting a truck driver, police said.
“The striking workers, who were supposed to be at different picketing posts, stormed through the Woolworths store in Market Street,” said Captain John Maluleke.
The employees are demanding that Woolworths’ management recognise their trade union, the South African Commercial Catering and Allied Workers’ Union (Saccawu). They were in the city’s CBD for a general meeting held by Saccawu at the City Hall.
Maluleke said the protesters entered the store and demanded that employees leave and join the protest action. They then assaulted a truck driver who was at the store to deliver goods.
“When the driver tried to get into the back of the store, they assaulted him and took his keys… we are not sure what weapon was used to assault the driver.”
He said the protesters then moved the truck on to the street and blocked the flow of traffic.
“The truck had to be towed away,” said Maluleke.
After police spoke to protesters they were escorted to Park Station, where they dispersed.
Maluleke said while the truck was damaged, no arrests had been made. He was not sure if the store was damaged.
“If there is any damage to the store then we will open a case.”
He said that the workers were scheduled to return to the area on Friday, and police would be on the scene.
Saccawu spokesperson Thabo Mahlangu meanwhile blamed members of the public for the incident, explaining that the workers were at the meeting.
“We had almost 3 000 of our members inside City Hall when this incident happened … after the meeting the workers dispersed to their various picketing points,” Mahlangu said.
He said that if it was found that Woolworths employees were responsible for the incident, necessary processes would take place within Saccawu.
“There will be disciplinary hearings if we find that they were involved. We don’t condone this type of behaviour.”
Woolworths told the Mail & Guardian Online this week that only 6% of its workers were on strike, and that more than 85% of their employees were not members of Saccawu.
The retailer said it had proposed that Saccawu verify how many members worked for Woolworths.
‘We believe this is a fair and reasonable proposal to resolve this dispute. This is consistent with our position for the union to show us their membership figures and, if they are sufficiently representative, we have no hesitation in granting the union organisational rights. I trust that the union will accept this proposal in good faith,” says Zyda Rylands, chief operating officer for support services at Woolworths.