The South African Commercial Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU) has accused Pick n Pay of sacrificing 22 000 employees rather than restructuring the pay of the retailer’s executives.
The union’s view comes after Pick n Pay informed shareholders and employees that it would embark on a consultation process that will result in some changes to staff’s salary packages, while the possibility of retrenching some staff is not off the table.
“The consultation relates to certain elements of the company’s store labour model, including scheduling flexibility and the alignment of benefits and allowances, which are not in line with market practices and peer benchmarks,” said the retailer.
“The consultation forms part of the strategic action underway to restore the company to sustainable profitability and to strengthen the long-term competitiveness of its core supermarket business,” said Pick n Pay.
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“The objective of the process is not to reduce headcount, rather to improve labour flexibility and cost sustainability, while retaining jobs wherever possible and creating the conditions necessary for sustainable employment growth over the longer term.”
Store-based employees at risk
Pick n Pay said the consultation focuses on addressing labour practice that have become increasingly inflexible and costly over time and are no longer aligned with prevailing retail market practice.
The retailer added that the consultation process is to address the aforementioned matters and consider alternative options. It emphasised that the consultation does not represent a “predetermined outcome”.
“The process applies to specific store-based employees within the Non-Management Bargaining Unit and excludes head office employees and management structures which have already been part of a process over the last 24 months with a wage and salary freeze combined with a reduction in numbers due to restructuring.”
SACCAWU expresses unhappiness
The union representing most of the retailer’s workers expressed dissatisfaction with how Pick n Pay is restructuring and handling consultations.
“The S189A CCMA notices issued to employees effectively give them two undesirable choices, one is to accept retrenchments, or as an alternative to retrenchments, to accept the downward variation of their negotiated conditions of employment, which includes their agreement to cancel all their collective agreements on workers’ rights and protections,” said SACCAWU.
“Sean Summers’ decision to refer a dispute to the CCMA, before their proposals were tabled to SACCAWU, is indicative of the bad faith with which they are embarking on this process. Abusing the CCMA’s resources before SACCAWU had had sight of their proposals should be condemned in the strongest terms.”
Changes proposed
According to the union, Pick n Pay is proposing the following changes to employees’ packages and terms of employment:
- Reducing working hours from 196 hours per month to 176 hours (this is equivalent to a R2 000 reduction in wages per employee)
- Doing away with transport for employees who work late shifts that fall outside normal public transport schedules, and those who work a night shift.
- Withdrawing the negotiated 13th cheque for the Non-Management Bargaining Unit.
- Scrapping the legislated 1.5% Sunday pay, by treating Sunday as a normal working day.
- Doing away with benefits negotiated for Variable Time Employees (part-timers).
- Doing away with the Flexibility and Multi-Skilling Agreement, which was intended to create a more multi-skilled and flexible workforce.
Why not look at management?
The union has raised concerns about why the retailer doesn’t look at restructuring management’s pay and working conditions, instead of looking at the bottom.
“While Pick n Pay singles out the employees’ working conditions in the Non-Management Bargaining Unit wage bill, they conveniently do not show how much, as a percentage of the company’s wage bill, is allocated towards its executives and management structure,” said SACCAWU.
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“It must be noted that Pick n Pay’s desperate strategy to attack the gains made by its workers will have the unintended consequences of deepening the economic crisis that families of workers are already facing.
“Pick n Pay management are hellbent on ringfencing their own high salaries and benefits, while deepening the levels of poverty, unemployment, inequality, and economic hardship through its large-scale retrenchment.”
Workers can’t always be sacrificial lamb
In addition, the union added that employees cannot continue to bear the burden of corporate restructuring and business challenges, while executives and shareholders are protected.
“Pick n Pay is disingenuous by laying the blame or the company’s financial and operational difficulties at the feet of its employees, and their purported high salaries, out of sync working conditions, and lack of flexibility,” said SACCAWU.
“The express purpose for agreeing a 60% Variable Time and 40% Full Time employment ratio was to ensure the company has a more flexible workforce.”
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CEOs to be blamed
The union has also blamed two of the retailer’s former CEOs for the dire financial state Pick n Pay finds itself in.
“Pick n Pay also neglects to admit that its previous two CEO appointments have driven the company from a status of healthy profitability and market share into the shell of its former glory it is experiencing.
“Indicative of this is the wastage the company has suffered through Peter Boone, its former CEO’s QualiSave strategy, which was undone by Sean Summers immediately upon his appointment.”
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Source: https://www.citizen.co.za/business/pick-n-pay-saccawu-retrenchments-employees/
by Dev_SACCAWU | Labour Market News
Data shows that nearly half of graduates are unemployed or underemployed within their first year of graduating. Picture: (123RF)
Young people must urgently be equipped with skills needed to enter the world of work
This week’s unemployment report from the national statistics agency would have made disheartening reading for the hundreds of thousands of young South Africans finishing their studies at the country’s many institutions of higher learning.
For many of them, the end of the year will be the start of a bleak process of knocking on endless doors looking for their first job and having those doors shut in their faces, partly because their newly minted degrees have not equipped them with the skills employers are increasingly looking for.
The unemployment data from Stats SA was certainly beyond depressing, to quote Cosatu’s Matthew Parks. His characterisation of the crisis as a ticking time bomb was spot on.
Unemployment has surged to 32.7% from 31.4% and is even higher at 45.8% among young people aged 15 to 34 years.
Only 16.8-million people have jobs in a country with an adult population of about 41-million. Nearly 4-million people were discouraged from looking for jobs in the first quarter of the year. These are bleak numbers by any definition.
In his state of the nation address in June, President Cyril Ramaphosa made much of the fact that the Youth Employment Service, a partnership between business and government, placed more than 200,000 young people in yearlong work experience opportunities.
It’s a commendable initiative, certainly not to be sniffed at, but what about the millions of other young people stuck at home with no prospects? We need a more coherent programme of action that equips our young people with the skills they need to enter the world of work, instead of piecemeal solutions.
A good starting point is to address the mismatch between the degrees South African universities are offering and the practical skills employers are actually looking for.
As a case in point, education expert Riaz Moola recently highlighted how, in an increasingly digitalised world, thousands of young South Africans looking for their first job are at a disadvantage because they lack the basic AI skills increasing in demand in the workplace.
As Moola argued, AI is not replacing people, as is the common refrain, but rather amplifying those who know how to use it. We should therefore be moving swiftly to ensure that basic AI skills are integrated into the curriculums of all South African schools and tertiary institutions, leaving no single child behind.
Sadly, however, no matter how well we train our young people, they will still struggle to find jobs in an economy growing at just 1.1%, a dampener for business investment.
We need to get serious about removing the structural impediments that stand in the way of South Africa getting to the 3%-5% expansion needed to get its people working.
And that means rooting out corruption, reducing bureaucracy, improving infrastructure and public services, expanding private-sector participation, improving safety and encouraging investment.
Mass unemployment should not be normalised and any government serious about dignity and opportunity for its citizens must prioritise job creation and reform above all else.
Source: https://www.businessday.co.za/opinion/2026-05-15-editorial-we-need-to-defuse-the-unemployment-time-bomb/
by Dev_SACCAWU | Labour Market News
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in Mpumalanga expresses its profound disappointment, anger, and disgust at the alarming levels of unemployment and retrenchments revealed by the recent labour force survey. The report paints a painful picture of the socio-economic crisis confronting workers and communities across our province, with Mpumalanga ranking amongst the hardest-hit provinces, having recorded more than 40 000 job losses during the period under review.
These figures are not just statistics; they represent shattered livelihoods, struggling families, growing poverty, rising inequality, and increasing hopelessness amongst the working class and the youth. The continued loss of jobs in both the public and private sectors is unacceptable and requires urgent intervention from all stakeholders.
COSATU Mpumalanga calls upon government, business, labour, and all social partners to urgently convene and develop concrete, practical, and implementable solutions aimed at preventing further job losses and rebuilding the economy in a manner that prioritises workers and communities.
We specifically call for:
- The urgent creation of decent and sustainable jobs across all sectors of the economy.
- The expansion of on-the-job training programmes, internships, apprenticeships, and youth employment initiatives.
- The immediate filling of all vacant substantive posts in government departments, municipalities, state-owned entities, and public institutions.
- Increased investment in local economic development and industrialisation initiatives that can absorb unemployed youth and workers.
- Stronger protection of workers against unfair retrenchments and exploitative labour practices.
- The elimination of outsourcing and the abuse of subcontracting systems that undermine workers’ rights, wages, job security, and dignity.
COSATU remains firm in its belief that the economy must serve the people and not profits alone. We therefore advocate for a developmental, ethical, and interventionist state capable of driving inclusive growth, job creation, social justice, and a better life for all.
We further urge both government and the private sector to place the interests of workers and communities at the centre of economic planning and decision-making processes. South Africa cannot overcome poverty, crime, and inequality while unemployment continues to rise at such devastating levels.
COSATU Mpumalanga will continue to engage all relevant stakeholders and mobilise workers and communities in defence of jobs, decent work, and economic justice.
Issued by COSATU Mpumalanga
Thabo Mokoena (Provincial Secretary)
Mobile: 073 750 2041
Source: https://mediadon.co.za/cosatu-mpumalanga-expresses-deep-concern-over-rising-unemployment-and-retrenchments/
