Beverage and dairy group Clover has defended its position on the strike across its operations saying its retrenchment process was unavoidable and its decisions have been in line with the law and its financial position.
The strike, set in motion in November by Clover workers belonging to the General Industries Workers Union of SA (Giwusa) and the Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu) — affiliates of the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu), is in its eighth week with both sides refusing to back down.
The worker’s representatives said the firm had informed them it intended to save R300m on labour costs by retrenching 1,000 workers and introducing a six-day work week with compulsory work on public holidays. But restructuring at the company has resulted in factory closures with unions saying about 800 workers had already been let go, while 800 more had accepted voluntary severance packages, while more jobs are under threat.
In a statement on Monday, Clover said while it respects the rights of employees to strike in a peaceful and legal manner, it maintained it had "explored all possible avenues" but could not avoid lays-offs, saying they were "necessary to enhance Clover’s resilience for the benefit of its collective stakeholders".
"This decision was not taken lightly," the company said without giving a figure of how many jobs had been lost to date.
It said it had been subject to a difficult trading cycle for several years, during which time economic growth has been poor, costs have risen above inflation and subdued consumer spending, with the additional effect of Covid-19 on business.
"Clover continues to act in accordance with all respective legislation, including, the Labour Relations Act and the Competition Commission conditions and remains committed to resolving the matter in a constructive manner. All discussions will be considered in the context of the business’s financial position and longer-term sustainability, which is to the benefit of all stakeholders," it said.
Israeli consortium Milco bought the more than 120-year old SA company in 2019 for R4.8bn, with the merger approved by competition authorities, albeit with conditions, including that there would be no retrenchments for at least three years.
At the time, Milco reported a worst-case scenario of 277 workers being retrenched. However, just two years later, many workers are out of a job due to restructuring.
Competition authorities are investigating breaches of the merger, but there seems to be no end in sight.
Concurrent to the retrenchment process, Clover said it has been engaging representative bodies regarding the annual wage review since April 2021.
Fawu general secretary Mayoyo Mngomezulu said on Monday workers were unfairly treated as the only options given to them were to accept a 20% decrease or face retrenchment. In negotiations, workers rejected this offer but Clover continued with its restructuring process.
In the wage negotiations Clover offered a 4.5% salary increase but only after the 20% reduction had been implemented, which unions also threw out. Due to restructuring Clover implemented the retrenchment process which sparked protest at its factories in Clayville, Durban, Gqeberha, Polokwane and Cape Town.
"The employer is arrogant, destroying jobs for the sake of profit," said Mngomezulu.
Highlighting that some of the highest-paid workers earned as little as R6,500 a month, he said "asking them to forfeit 20% of that was a bitter pill to swallow".
"It’s unfortunate that we have been on a strike now for eight weeks and our members spent Christmas with nothing," said the union leader.
He noted that production at Clover had been crippled, saying " if you go to the retail stores you will see that their products are lacking on the shelves."
Unions have called on the department of trade, industry and competition to stop factory closures and job losses at Clover.
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