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Workers to picket during Walmart vote

Johannesburg - The South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Unions (Saccawu) said on Friday that its Anti-Wal-Mart Coalition would picket at the upcoming Massmart Holdings [JSE:MSM] shareholders meeting on Monday, January 17.

The union also said that it would hold an urgent press conference at the picket line immediately after the shareholders' meeting.

Massmart's shareholders are expected to vote in support of the global retail giant's offer to acquire 51% of Massmart's shares at the meeting.

The Anti-Walmart coalition also consists of various trade unions such as the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), social movements and other civil society organisations.

"We, together with some other shareholders, intend to present our case for the opposition of the Walmart/Massmart deal. The coalition hopes to use the opportunity to address the Massmart shareholders, and explain to them the implications of this deal, for workers in Massmart, the wholesale and retail sector, its supply chains and other sectors within the economy," Saccawu said.

"The coalition will be joined by UNI-Africa, UNI Global Union and UFCW (US/Canada). This will be an international demonstration of the workers' opposition to Walmart, the Walmart philosophy and economic model across the globe," the union added.

Last year, the union said that the coalition was established following discussions on the implications of Wal-Mart's bid for Massmart, an assessment of the challenges and dangers of this bid for the retail sector, the economy, "decent work", New Growth Path, the Buy South Africa Campaign, implications for agriculture, local manufacturing and food processing, suppliers as well as distributors, given Walmart's procurement policies.

Retail stalwart Walmart made its intentions official in November for a R16.5bn cash offer to acquire 51% of Massmart at R148 per Massmart share.

"The offer represents a 19.2% premium to the 30-day weighted average price on September 23, the last trading day prior to the indicative offer announced on September 27 2010, and has been unanimously recommended by the Massmart board of directors," said Walmart.

Massmart will continue to trade on the JSE if the deal is completed.
 
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