STAFF REPORTER
THE South African Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU) will on Friday hold nationwide marches to various Makro stores to hand over memorandum of demands.
The strike action at Makro stores will resume from March 24, 2023, and will continue up until 02 April 2023.
The main march will be held in Pretoria where the memorandum will be handed over to Makro store at Woonderboom, north of Pretoria.
Civil society organisations in South Africa and International Trade Union Federations have been galvanized to rally behind SACCAWU and boycott all Walmart/Makro products during this period.
The union is demanding a 12% salary increase, with an R8 000 minimum wage.
Makro has offered a 4.5% wage increase.
Meanwhile, UNI Global Union and the UNI Africa Massmart Alliance of trade unions are calling on the retail group to stop union busting at its Makro stores in South Africa and immediately reinstate nearly 400 workers that have been unfairly dismissed.
Massmart has fired 379 Makro workers and suspended a further 70 workers for allegedly participating an “illegal strike” and “unlawful picketing behaviour” after UNI Global Union’s affiliate, the South African Commercial Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU) organized a series of walk outs at Makro grocery stores, including Black Friday weekend on 26 and 27 November.
“In addition to the dismissals and disciplinary hearings, Massmart management has been using a range of tactics to break the strikes and weaken workers’ unity, including deploying temporary employees to replace striking workers, intimidating workers and offering financial incentives in exchange for resigning from the union,” said UNION Global Union.
The demands placed on Makro by SACCWU are as follows:
1. Across the board increase of R900.00 or 12% whichever is the greater
2. Minimum Wage R8000.00
3. An improvement of Commission from 10% on margin to 20% margin for Sales Person
4. Increase in Category 3 working hours from 160 to 195 per month
5. 13 Cheque to be made separate from the December salary
6. Uniform Allowance R100.00
7. Moratorium on Retrenchments for the duration of the agreement
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