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Cape Town - Sasol is holding a second consultation meeting on Friday on the possible closure of its Sasol Nitro phosphoric acid plant in Phalaborwa.
The meeting will discuss options for shutting down the plant.
Sasol says the primary aim of the consultations is to investigate alternatives that will retain as many jobs as possible.
According to Sasol media spokesperson Nothemba Noruwana, at the current stage of consultations it is still to early to discuss possible layoffs, redeployment, transfers or other alternatives.
She says that the process will be a transparent one. It was previously reported that 245 jobs would be lost at Sasol if the plant was shut down, as well as about another 250 from service providers.
Information that Sake24 has received indicates that employees have been informed about the choice of alternative positions at Sasolburg and Secunda, but if they do not accept these, they will not be entitled to retirement packages and will be considered to have resigned.
Concerned employees point out that they have property in Phalaborwa and some still have school-going children and cannot simply pack up and move. Those whose spouses work in Phalaborwa also face a predicament.
Professor Barney Jordaan, a labour consultant, responded to enquiry saying that if employees' service contracts provided for possible relocation, they would have no choice but to accept an employer's offer of being transferred.
If they refused to relocate, an employer could terminate the employment on the grounds of industrial imperatives, as long as the requirements for retrenchment in the Labour Relations Act had been met, which provisions include adequate consultation. If there is no contractual obligation to accept relocation, the employer cannot force an employee to move.
Jordaan says the employer may however not regard an employee's refusal to be relocated as resignation. Should he or she refuse, dismissal is an option, but if dismissal is not in accordance with the legislation it could be regarded as being "unfair".
But Jordaan points out that employees can lose their retirement packages if the alternative of being placed elsewhere is regarded as "reasonable" in the circumstances. Each individual's situation will have to be examined to determine what is reasonable.
- Sake24.com
For more business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.