News

Workers and shop stewards at Massmart / Walmart who are members of the South Africa Catering, Commercial and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU) in South Africa came together in Johannesburg yesterday to create a network which unites them across all divisions of the company in the country. The Network is aiming to strengthen union organising and to campaign for coordinated centralised company-wide collective bargaining.



The company's business model, if applied in an unfetted manner in South Africa, will result in low pay for workers, the widespread use of labour brokers and the imposition of part-time working, all of which are a direct contradiction of the sustainable employment model that is required in order to benefit South Africa's economic development.



The Shop Steward's Network condemned the company's growing use of labour brokers - an employment model that any worker employed under it is subject to precarious conditions - seems to fly in the face of promises made by the company when first entering South Africa that it would create thousands of new jobs. The meeting heard reports that up to 85% of the workforce at newly opened Cambridge stores are supplied by labour brokers.



Massmart / Walmart continues to refuse to enter into centralised company-wide collective bargaining with SACCAWU in an effort, in the workers' view, to keep them fragmented. The Shop Stewards Network will enable shop stewards to share information about bargaining at their division or unit and to coordinate future demands.



As an indication of the importance of this Network, the meeting was also attended by UNI Global Union and a presentation was given on the Walmart business model by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) of North America.



Participants issued a statement denouncing Walmart for refusing to fully implement the Competition Appeals Court order to reinstate 503 workers that had be retrenched in the pre-merger process. So far, only about half of the workers have been rehired, with the company alleging that South African labour law no longer mandates that "re-engagement" requires the payment of backpay. This is a tenuous position at best for the company to take, and, at worst, could be considered an example of bad faith and a taste of things to come.



The Shop Stewards Network also condemned the company's refusal to establish a fund large enough to truly benefit South African manufacturing, despite having ample revenue to do so.



The SACCAWU Massmart / Walmart Shop Steward Network called on Walmart to guarantee respect for worker and union rights in all Walmart operations and to establish a dialogue with UNI by signing a Global Agreement .



The network will participate actively in the UNI Africa Walmart Alliance which will be launched on 19/20 June in Johannesburg.