As the indefinite wage strike at Massmart rages on the company said it was confident it had enough capacity to serve its customers during the busy festive season. This is an indication that whether workers accepted the proposals or not, was immaterial.
Parties have refused to share details of the company's proposals that could see workers going back to their posts within the retail giant’s more than 400 stores in the country.
Massmart senior vice-president of corporate affairs Brian Leroni told Business Day that the group had implemented strike contingency plans, which included the use of contractors at its stores.
“The result is that our stores have and continue to operate smoothly. Indeed certain stores have, at times, been slightly overstaffed. We remain confident in our ability to maintain the level of service required to serve our customers throughout the festive season,” he said.
Leroni said at its peak, the industrial action “only attracted 42% support” from the SA Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu) membership base.
“Massmart has also been conducting an ongoing opinion poll to measure attitudes to the strike, in major metropolitan areas. Respondent opposition and/or indifference to the strike action has averaged about 87%,” said Leroni.
“We have maintained ongoing communication with Saccawu and are awaiting their response to proposals made during these discussions.” He did not say what the proposals were.
Massmart, owned by Walmart, the largest company in the world by revenue, has been struggling to shake off the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated lockdown restrictions that saw it lose billions due to government-imposed bans on alcohol sales.
The July unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng brought more setbacks for the group — which is in the middle of a turnaround attempt to fix years of underperformance — when two of its warehouses were looted and one razed, with 43 stores damaged.
The looting, arson and store closures during the civil unrest cost the owner of Game, Makro and Builders Warehouse R2.5bn, and it also had to meet a R650m insurance shortfall.
Saccawu, which claims to have about 20,000 of Massmart’s 45,000-strong workforce, embarked on an indefinite strike on November 19 in support of its demand for a R500 increase across the board, rejecting management’s proposal of R320. The union is also disputing alleged unilateral restructuring and changes to terms and conditions of employment affecting the group's customer-relation officers.
Saccawu national spokesperson Sithembele Tshwete told Business Day that the union was still consulting its membership on the proposals made by Massmart. “We want to get a mandate on whether to settle or continue with the strike,” he said.
“It would be wrong to state in the media what the proposals are before our members have had a chance to interact with them.”
Tshwete said the strike had had a negative effect on both the company and striking workers.
“The company is feeling the pinch, and the workers are also feeling the pinch too, because they are without salaries.”
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