The current road freight sector strike is affecting several of the Shoprite Group’s suppliers, the retailer said on Wednesday.
”[It] is causing a delay in the delivery of some products to the group’s nationwide distribution centres,” it said in a statement.
If the strike continued, this could result in a shortage of certain products on the shelves in Shoprite and Checkers stores.
Members of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) have been on strike since Tuesday last week.
The Shoprite Group said its drivers were not Satawu members.
”The group’s truck drivers are accordingly not participating in the strike, and the transport of products from the group’s distribution centres to its supermarkets remains unaffected,” it said.
Meanwhile, retailer Pick ‘n Pay said the strike had not stopped supplies getting through to its stores.
”Contingency plans have been made and supplies are getting through to stores,” Pick ‘n Pay food merchandise director Kevin Korb said in a statement.
The Road Freight Employers Association (RFEA) is in talks with Satawu representatives to try and end the strike.
The RFEA said on Tuesday afternoon that ”the parties managed to agree on all monetary issues, which include, among others, an across-the-board increase of 11%”.
The union had demanded a 13% increase.
However, the parties were at a stalemate over Satawu’s demand that negotiations should also extend to employees who were not covered by the bargaining council, and fell outside of the bargaining unit, it said. — Sapa