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SOUTH AFRICAN COMMERCIAL CATERING AND ALLIED WORKERS UNION




Former workers bring operations to a standstill at Giyani Water Plant

by | Labour Market News

The Giyani Water Project in Limpopo.
Image Credits : SABC News

Construction on phase three of the delayed Giyani Water Project has come to a standstill after former workers closed the water plant.

The former workers, whose contracts ended in June, say that have not been paid for the past seven months.

The multi-million-rand project, managed by Lepelle Northern Water, was originally expected to be concluded in 2014, but is yet to be completed.

The contractor, Muteo Consultancy and Lepelle Northern Water, are yet to comment.

Spokesperson of the former workers, Shadrack Mabaso, says, “The reason we embarked on a strike and closed the site is because of our unpaid invoices. I’m not talking about one month payment. I’m talking about six, seven months payment that is still outstanding. I’m talking of payments that have been outstanding from 2024, 2025, and now it’s 2026. We have been not extended our contract, but when we inquire about our money, we are not being paid that money. We are being promised, we are busy with it, we are busy with it. You can’t be busy with someone’s seven months salaries.”

Source: https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/former-workers-bring-operations-to-a-standstill-at-giyani-water-plant/

Cosatu’s call for action: solutions for South Africa’s economic crisis

by | Labour Market News

At the upcoming national congress, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will unite workers from across the country to confront the pressing economic challenges facing the working class, including the soaring cost of living and rising unemployment.
Image: Ayanda Ndamane / IOL

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will soon hold its national congress where workers from Mitchells Plain to Mussina, from farms to mines, hospitals and schools, will gather to assess the state of the economy and its impact upon the working class.

Most importantly, they will craft campaigns on what must be done to tackle the many socio-economic crises facing the working class, especially the rising cost of living.

2026 has since seen inflation jump to 5%, largely due to massive fuel hikes resulting from the Middle East war (25% for petrol and 50% for diesel) with a projected further R2 per litre of diesel hike expected.

Electricity has gone up by 9%.  The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) raised the repo rate recently and with inflation rising, is likely to do so again soon.

These hikes take place against a backdrop of an economy stuck at 1% growth for more than a decade and a staggering 43.7% unemployment rate.

Those lucky to have jobs must stretch their wages to support unemployed relatives.  This and the rising cost of living have left workers drowning in debt, borrowing to service loans and take care of their families.

Whilst the fundamental solutions to ease the crises of the rising cost of living facing workers, is to grow the economy and create decent jobs, much can and must be done in the short, medium and long term.

Many key interventions take time for their effects to be fully felt, something a country facing the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality; simply cannot wait for.

Government led by the African National Congress (ANC) did well to provide R18 billion relief to struggling commuters by suspending the fuel levy for several months when the war broke out.  This act helped stave off inflation.  Reintroducing such relief should be pursued as long as international oil and fuel prices remain so high.

Government needs to honour a commitment it first made in 2018, to review and ultimately reduce the third of the fuel prices that go towards taxes.  This will free cash in workers’ pockets and release stimulus into the economy.

Metro Rail will soon be raising fares by amounts above inflation.  Yet it remains far cheaper, faster and safer than other transportation.  More support needs to be given to Metro Rail to modernise its lines, roll out signals enabling trains to travel faster, reopen the remaining closed lines and expand routes.

This will save commuters scarce money, ease road congestion, reduce maintenance costs and insulate much of the country from oil price hikes shocks.

Greater public investment and support are needed for busses and taxis who provide a critical transport service, especially in rural areas and townships.

Key to shielding food from inflation is to help restore Transnet to full capacity and lower the price of diesel and electricity.

Eskom plays a key role in our domestic inflationary pressures.

For the past two decades it has been dependent upon annual tariff hikes far above inflation, with some as high as 36%!

This has bled workers’ meagre wages, caused smelters to close and retrench thousands of workers, smelters and suffocated economic growth.  Helping Eskom end its dependency upon above inflation tariff hikes is key to releasing workers’ wages, unlocking economic growth and reducing unemployment.

Whilst Eskom has done well to end loadshedding it now needs the help of government to tackle the R120 billion municipal debt owed to it.  The most effective way to do this is to move all customers, including government institutions and companies, to prepaid electricity.

Similar billing collection interventions are needed in local government to ensure municipal tariffs are collected.  If all consumers pay for water and electricity consumed than we can end the death spiral of above inflation tariff hikes and even increase the allocation of free basic services to indigent households.

An expansion of access to cheaper electricity can help wean poor households off otherwise expensive paraffin.

Government and industry need to revive domestic fuel refinery capacity to reduce our vulnerability to international supply shocks and reduce domestic fuel prices.

SARB whilst needing to manage inflation, should avoid unnecessary repo rate hikes as much as possible as most of our inflationary pressures are imported and not domestically driven.

Government, with the support of the Unemployment Insurance Fund and Developmental Finance Institutions, needs to urgently ramp up public employment programmes.  These are key to helping millions of unemployed earn a wage, enter the labour market and ease pressures upon those working.

Discussions should take place on how SRD Grant recipients can be linked to skills training and public employment programmes to help them find work.

Employers must avoid retrenchments at all costs, reduce their often obscene wage gaps and pay their employees a living wage.  The economy cannot grow if workers earn too little to buy the goods it produces.

GEMS’ 9% 2026 premium hike and similar ones by other medical aids point to the urgent need for interventions to limit often shameless medical tariff hikes imposed in pursuit of profits and to accelerate the rolling out universal healthcare through the National Health Insurance.

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme has helped millions access tertiary education, yet its income threshold has never been adjusted since its introduction a decade ago, thus shrinking the number of eligible poor students.  This must be corrected and accompanied by a discussion on how we expand access to tertiary education and ensure its financial sustainability.

The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition needs to crack down on loan sharks who routinely violate the National Credit Act and exploit workers’ desperation for relief.

Engagements on the next phase of the Two Pot Pension Reforms must start.  The first phase provided 4 million highly indebted workers with over R70 billion relief whilst massively boosting long-term savings.

What is needed now are robust engagements at Nedlac on bold interventions to provide relief to the working class, stimulate economic growth and create jobs.

Zingiswa Losi is the president of Cosatu. 

Zingiswa Losi is the president of Cosatu. 

Zingiswa Losi is the president of Cosatu.  Image: Independent Newspapers

Source: https://iol.co.za/business-report/economy/2026-08-03-cosatus-call-for-action-solutions-for-south-africas-economic-crisis/

Cosatu slams ‘reckless decision’ as Premier Foods closes Western Cape fruit plant

by | Labour Market News

For illustrative purposes. Picture: iStock

Competition Commission is looking into the decision by Premier Foods to close the fruit products plant.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has rallied behind Premier Foods workers facing retrenchment as the company moves to shut down its Fruits Products Western Cape (FPWC) plant based in Tulbagh.

Premier Foods acquired Rhodes Food Group Holdings in March this year. The deal was approved by the Competition Commission under conditions that included there should not be retrenchments for at least three years after the takeover. The closure of the plant could be a direct violation of this condition.

It is understood that the company is closing the processing plant due to declining global demand, pricing pressure and rising input costs. Premier Foods also cited the United States’ tariffs imposed last year as a contributing factor.

Workers affected by Premier Foods decision

The FPWC processes apricots, peaches and pears, and about 90% of the factory’s canned fruit production is exported, leaving the business heavily exposed to weakening international demand.

The decision to shut down the plant will affect approximately 3 000 permanent and seasonal jobs.

However, Cosatu said the whole value chain will be disrupted by the closure.

“The closure of the processing plant would destroy an estimated 80 000 jobs in the value chain, weaken agricultural production and devastate businesses throughout Tulbagh and surrounding areas,” said the union.

“Retailers, suppliers, transport operators and many other enterprises depend on the continued operation of the plant. This reckless decision threatens the economic future of the entire region.”

Cosatu rejects Premier Foods decision

The union said it “reject any attempt by Premier Foods to sacrifice workers and communities in pursuit of short-term profits for shareholders”.

The following are the immediate demands supported by Cosatu:

  • The processing plant must remain operational;
  • There must be no retrenchments and no removal of machinery from the plant;
  • The current Section 189 retrenchment process must be suspended until the Competition Commission determines whether the proposed closure violates the commitments made when Premier acquired Rhodes, including undertakings relating to employment protection;
  • Premier Foods must justify its claim that South Africa requires only one processing plant, as this assertion does not make sense;
  • The company must disclose the financial and operational information underpinning its decision to close the Tulbagh plant.

Competition Commission investigates

Competition Commission spokesperson Siya Makunga confirmed to Business Times that the watchdog is looking into the decision by Premier Foods to close the FPWC plant.

“The commission recently became aware of the potential closure of Premier’s fruit products business in Tulbagh, Western Cape. Please note that the matter is now being investigated by the commission, and the commission will determine the appropriate steps to take once it has concluded its investigation of the matter.”

While the commission has not indicated whether it believes Premier has breached the merger conditions, its investigation raises questions about whether the planned retrenchments are merger-specific or stem from operational circumstances unrelated to the acquisition.

‘No longer economically sustainable’

Premier Foods last week said it has initiated a section 189 consultation process with affected employees, saying the plant is “no longer economically sustainable in its current form”.

Premier argues that the challenges are structural rather than company-specific, saying South Africa’s canned fruit industry is unlikely to sustain two sub-scale operations in the long term.

It said it had explored alternatives, including seeking a buyer for the business, reducing operating costs and assessing other options before deciding to begin the consultation process. The company further rejected suggestions that the proposed closure is linked to its takeover of Rhodes Food Group.

“This is a separate business sustainability matter driven by the standalone operating position of FPWC and the structural pressures facing the canned fruit industry. It is not related to the Premier/Rhodes Food Group merger or any merger-specific conditions.”

Exports worth over R1 billion

Jacques Jordaan, CEO of the Canning Fruit Producers’ Association (CFPA), told Farmer’s Weekly that the issue extended beyond the closure of a single factory.

“This is not simply the closure of one factory, but a decision with far-reaching consequences for an entire agricultural value chain,” he said. He noted that Premier Foods has the right to restructure its business how it sees fit, however, it should be done in a fair way.

“Closing the Tulbagh factory immediately, only three months before harvest, without meaningful consultation and despite existing rolling three-year supply agreements, is neither commercially responsible nor fair to the producers, workers and communities that have built this industry over generations.”

According to Jordaan, the Tulbagh facility processed between 55 000t and 60 000t of fruit annually, purchased approximately R300 million worth of fruit from producers, and supported annual exports valued at R1 billion to R1.2 billion.

Source: https://www.citizen.co.za/business/cosatu-slams-reckless-decision-as-premier-foods-closes-western-cape-fruit-plant/

NUM threatens legal action over Eskom restructuring

by | Labour Market News

National Union of Mineworkers members protest outside Eskom’s offices in Sunninghill. Picture: ( Moeletsi Mabe)


Story audio is generated using AI

National Union of Mineworkers opposes unbundling of utility into three entities

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), one of the largest unions in the energy and mining sectors, says it will explore all available options, including legal action, after President Cyril Ramaphosa endorsed a report paving the way for Eskom’s restructuring.

The union said this was without “meaningful engagement” with it.

The Cosatu affiliate is firmly opposed to the unbundling of the power utility into three entities responsible for generation, transmission and distribution, arguing that it is a step towards privatisation. It said privatisation threatens job security, drives up electricity costs and undermines South Africa’s energy sovereignty.

In a letter dated June 18, which Business Day has seen, NUM general secretary Mpho Phakedi invited Ramaphosa and the Eskom board, among others, to urgently embark on dialogue over the restructuring of Eskom.

“We do this because of what we view as the profoundly negative impact of this decision on not only the market but also on the already high unemployment rate in our country,” the letter says.

Phakedi said NUM has expressed its concerns and “opposition to the unbundling of Eskom” as it amounted to the “imposition of a neoliberal project that will most certainly endanger the country’s energy sovereignty as well as the entire economic trajectory”.

The NUM is concerned with what it called a linguistic shift, “where unbundling is used as a strategic euphemism to mask privatisation and hollow out the state”.

Phakedi said the union’s view is that the provision of electricity should not be left in the “precarious hands of the private sector, whose primary motivation is the making of profit at all costs, rather than the government’s strategic objectives of ensuring a more equal society and a better life for all”.

“We believe the transfer of transmission assets to an independent entity threatens the long-term sustainability of Eskom and will undermine its financial viability,” Phakedi said, adding there should be meaningful consultation before finalising the envisaged Eskom restructuring.

On Thursday, Phakedi said the union is disappointed that Ramaphosa, a former NUM leader, has not acknowledged receipt of the union’s letter nor responded to it before endorsing the Eskom restructuring task team’s report. “We will continue engaging the government and civic society on this matter. The issue of legal action will be explored too.”

Business Day reported this week that Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso has urged the government to move ahead with the implementation of an independent transmission system operator after Ramaphosa endorsed the first-phase report of the restructuring task team.

In his state of the nation address in February, Ramaphosa announced the establishment of the task team to oversee Eskom’s restructuring, with the aim of creating a fully independent, state-owned operator. The new entity would own and manage the country’s transmission assets while operating the electricity market.

The move is widely regarded as a cornerstone of South Africa’s electricity sector reforms, which are aimed at creating a reliable, affordable and sustainable power supply by opening the grid to greater competition and improving the efficiency of electricity transmission.

The task team is made up of representatives from the presidency, the Treasury, department of electricity & energy, Eskom and the National Transmission Company South Africa.

In her weekly newsletter on Monday, Mavuso said Ramaphosa’s endorsement of the task team’s phase 1 report provides the clearest vision yet for the system operator and the foundation of a competitive electricity market.

“I welcome that endorsement unreservedly … The president has now made that policy unambiguous, and there cannot be any further debate,” she said.

Ramaphosa said the task team report shows how the government could ensure that the architecture of the electricity sector can change as it continues to evolve. This, he said, will create the foundation for the country’s growth.

“The report reflects a clear and unified vision across government to establish an independent transmission system operator, which will be separated from Eskom. The system operator is a key enabler of a successful competitive wholesale electricity market that is expected to deliver reliable and cost-effective electricity,” Ramaphosa said, adding that the reform will support higher rates of economic growth, investment and job creation.

Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said Ramaphosa has already met the NUM leadership and the government will “continue engaging all organised labour formations in this regard”.

Source: https://www.businessday.co.za/news/2026-08-07-num-threatens-legal-action-over-eskom-restructuring/

Strong online growth boosts Pick n Pay despite tough trading conditions

by | Labour Market News

Pick n Pay delivered modest sales growth during the opening five months of its financial year, with strong online demand and improving clothing sales signalling continued progress in its long-term recovery strategy despite ongoing economic pressures and an unresolved labour dispute.

For the 20 weeks ended 19 July, the retailer increased group turnover by 2.7%, while like-for-like sales rose 2.5%.

Within the core Pick n Pay business, like-for-like sales improved by 2.6%, although total turnover remained unchanged from the previous year. In South Africa, comparable sales increased by 1.9%, but turnover declined 0.4% after the retailer completed the closure or conversion of several underperforming company-owned supermarkets as part of its restructuring programme rather than because of weaker consumer demand.

Boxer continued to be the group’s strongest performer. The discount retailer, which was separately listed on the JSE in 2024, recorded turnover growth of 7.2%, while like-for-like sales increased by 2.2%.

Although Boxer maintained its market share gains, its growth slowed compared with the 10.9% increase achieved in the second half of its 2026 financial year, reflecting the continued impact of cautious consumer spending.

During the reporting period, Boxer opened 19 new stores, including six superstores and 13 liquor outlets. Management also reaffirmed its expansion plans announced at the time of its listing, with the retailer aiming to add about 500 stores over the medium term. The company said its current development pipeline is the strongest it has seen, positioning Boxer as a key contributor to future earnings.

Online shopping remained the fastest-growing part of the business, with sales jumping 37.5%. Growth was driven by the Pick n Pay asap! delivery service as well as grocery sales through the Mr D platform. The performance reflects the increasing importance of rapid grocery delivery as South African retailers continue investing in digital shopping and AI-powered customer experiences.

The clothing division also showed signs of recovery. Sales at standalone clothing stores rose 3.3%, while like-for-like sales declined 1.3%—a notable improvement from the 5.6% contraction recorded in the previous six-month period.

Company-owned supermarkets, which account for most of Pick n Pay South Africa’s revenue, achieved like-for-like sales growth of 3.3%, supported by estimated volume growth of 2.0%. Franchise supermarkets also improved, posting like-for-like growth of 1.3%, with both businesses performing better than in the previous half.

Despite these gains, Pick n Pay said trading conditions remain challenging, pointing to slow economic growth, high fuel costs and subdued food inflation as factors limiting sales growth.

The retailer added that while Boxer continues to outperform, the core Pick n Pay business must complete the remaining steps in its turnaround strategy, including finalising its Section 189A labour consultation process, to achieve its planned break-even target.

The labour consultation remains one of the group’s biggest outstanding challenges. The process, which began in May under the CCMA with the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu), aims to negotiate changes to store employee terms and conditions as an alternative to job cuts.

However, the matter remains unresolved after Saccawu referred a dispute to the CCMA and also approached the Labour Court. With CEO Sean Summers having already forfeited share-based incentives because of the slower-than-expected recovery, resolving the labour process is viewed as a critical step towards delivering the profitability targets promised to investors.

Source: https://supermarket.co.za/index.php/retailer-trading-results/8104-strong-online-growth-boosts-pick-n-pay-despite-tough-trading-conditions