Strike ends at Walmart-owned Massmart after agreement reached
Thousands of striking workers at companies under Massmart Holdings in South Africa, which is owned by Walmart Inc, will return to work after reaching an agreement over disputes, a labour union said on Monday.
The disgruntled workers had been on strike since Nov.19 over low wages, unilateral restructuring and changes to terms and conditions of employment.
At Builders Warehouse, unions were demanding a wage increase of 500 rand ($31.50) monthly, while Massmart was offering an increase of 320 rand.
The unions also wanted workers who had lost jobs due to restructuring at the general merchandise chain, Game, to be reinstated. Massmart had said it had identified alternative jobs for those workers.
In settlement agreements seen by Reuters and sent by the South African Commercial Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu), an affiliate of the powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), the parties agreed on an across- the-board monthly wage increase of 400 rand, or 4.5%, for all 45-hour permanent and 40-hour fixed employees who are union members.
This will be "retrospectively" effective from July 1, 2021, according to the settlement agreements.
They also agreed on an increase of 4.5% on the hourly rate for all permanent part time associates.
In another agreement, Massmart said it would try to reinstate Game retrenched workers into vacant positions across the company.
"This has been a challenging time for those involved and we are pleased that the decision to end the strike will enable participating Saccawu members to return to work," Massmart said in a statement.
Saccawu said workers returned this afternoon.
The more than two-week strike had no impact on Massmart's operations as it hired contract employees to its stores.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
ENVASS is a customer and solutions-driven environmental consultancy with established divisions, serviced by highly qualified and experienced...
VISIT SHOWROOM
For over 30 years, Werner South Africa Pumps & Equipment (PTY) LTD has been designing, manufacturing, supplying and maintaining specialist...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
