COSATU �declares war� on Choppies

Mbongeni Mguni | Tuesday July 15, 2014 14:05

 

The majority of Choppies’ 19 stores in South Africa are in the North West province, whose COSATU branch is leading the call to boycott, while also signing up workers from their current union, which it says is “too weak”.

Unionists say at least 107 workers were affected by dismissals and suspensions in the two towns on Friday, after management there installed security cameras as part of loss control initiatives.

COSATU functionaries claim to have closed Choppies stores in the two towns, while workers went on strike demanding the reinstatement of their colleagues.

Yesterday, COSATU North West provincial secretary, Solly Phetoe told Mmegi that after the weekend strikes, the organisation had been able to secure reinstatement of workers in Mafikeng.

“For Delareyville, we have a Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration intervention scheduled for today (Tuesday), but we want to be honest that we are declaring a war on Choppies,” he said by telephone.

“We want Choppies’ directors to come down like they did in December and we resolve this issue.

“They must respect the laws of this country.”

Phetoe added: “We are convinced that they ill-treat workers. They secretly installed cameras, then suspended and fired some workers.”

In a statement released yesterday, COSATU said the suspensions and dismissals were illegally done, adding that unionists had previously had “problems” with Choppies in the province.

“This is not for the first time that we will engage the senior management from Botswana regarding the exploitation of workers, racial attitudes and assaulting workers by management,” the statement reads.

“At the Hartswater store a poor woman worker (sic) was assaulted and the manager was not dismissed until COSATU intervened.”

“We are also calling upon Department of Labour inspectors to do inspections of all stores in the North West as we can see that they do what they think is right for them.”

COSATU’s Free State branch, where Choppies also has branches, also weighed in on the issue saying it had “warned” the retail giant last year.

“We warned Choppies in 2013 and here they are today doing it again.

“We call on the management of Choppies and their directors in Botswana to reinstate all workers and remove all those cameras even before the matter goes to the CCMA.

“We condemn theft and all those who steal things from the shops but we also call on management to treat all workers as per the laws of this country. They must be allowed to take lunch and to rest and not work the whole day without lunch.”

For his part, Choppies CEO, Ramachandran Ottapath told Mmegi that the matter had been resolved.

“There was an issue there, but it was more about personal relations between individuals,” he said.

“COSATU has actually released a second statement on the matter and we don’t have a problem.”

By yesterday evening, Mmegi was unable to trace a second statement from the South African federation.