At 3pm on Friday, Loraine Ngubane, 42, will knock off work for the last time at Rainbow Chicken (RCL) Foods’ plant in Hammarsdale, about 50km west of Durban.
Ngubane is among 1,350 workers in the company who will be laid off this week as the sector reels from what it says is an influx of chicken imports.
SA imported an average of 27,500 tonnes of poultry a month from the US, Brazil and the EU for the 12 months to June 2016, representing a 43% hike. But many analysts say other factors are to blame.
Ngubane, a resident of Mpumalanga township near Hammarsdale, has worked at RCL Foods for 10 years but her future, and that of her family, looks bleak.
"I don’t know what I will do now. I don’t know how I will take care of my family as my whole life was dependent on this job," she said.
"My 21-year-old son, who is doing a third-year marketing diploma course at Durban’s Oval International College, will probably have to drop out.
"I don’t even know where to start looking for a job. There are just no jobs, no matter where you look," said Ngubane.
Mthembiseni Thabethe, 56, is facing the same fate. He spent more than three decades at the company before he was forced to accept a severance package.
"The company said it will call us to work from time to time, but that will not be the same as when we were employed here full-time," he said.
He did not know what he would do with the time on his hands now that he no longer had to wake up early to head to work, Thabethe said.
The job cuts will go ahead despite last-minute, relentless discussions among unions, the government and producers.
Scott Pitman, MD of RCL Foods’ consumer division, said the company was doing all it could to assist workers who stood to lose their jobs. The staff reductions "take effect at the end of January 2017, and the new business model at Hammarsdale comes into effect on February 1 2017".
"An extensive social plan is being developed for the retrenchments through consultation," Pitman said.
"The plan will involve other employers, occupational health providers and education sessions regarding financial issues, job-finding and CV-writing.
"[A total of] 1,350 posts will be cut, as we reduce operations at Hammarsdale from two shifts to one, in what has been a very sad process for us."
RCL Foods, along with the rest of the chicken industry and Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu), was in talks with the government to find a solution and try to avert further mass retrenchments. "If the situation does not improve more jobs may be cut," Pitman said.
KwaZulu-Natal spokesman of Fawu August Mbhele said the union had not given up on efforts to convince employers and the government to consider options other than retrenchment to deal with what he said was the issue of cheap chicken imports.
It was sad that mass retrenchments were befalling poultry workers, Mbhele said.
"We are saying companies should consider options, such as reduced shifts and others, that would keep workers in the system until a final solution is found on cheap [imports]…."
Fawu was encouraging retailers, including Shoprite and Woolworths, and hotels to buy at least 60%-70% of their poultry locally to save jobs.
Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies could not be reached for comment.
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