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Unions take on Walmart

Johannesburg - The South African Commercial,Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu) on Thursday warned that it will not rule out the possibility of a strike against Massmart Holdings [JSE:MSM] if US firm Wal-Mart acquires a stake in the retailer.

"We can't rule out the possibilty of the strike," Mduduzi Mbongwe, Saccawu deputy general secretary said at a news conference.

Wal-Mart is looking to buy more than a 50% stake in the discount retailer, which would give it a big presence in South Africa and a springboard into the rest of Africa.

However, unions have denounced Wal-Mart as being unfair to workers.

If Walmart succeeds in its bid to buy a share of Massmart, it would mean job losses for the retail and manufacturing sector, Saccawu said.

"Few people... comprehend the immensity of the implications of this deal if it goes through unopposed and without stringent conditions to protect our sector, related sectors, the local economy in general, the country and continent's developmental agenda,"  Mbongwe said.

He was speaking at the launch of an Anti-Walmart Coalition, made up of Saccawu, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and its affiliates, Uniglobal Union and others.

Walmart filed an application about its bid for Massmart with the Competition Commission on Wednesday, said Saccawu.

The coalition's campaign would include submissions to the commission about Walmart's offer.

Against the backdrop of a poster reading: "Say yes to centralised bargaining, no to Walmartisation", Mbongwe said they had already experienced a "hardening" of retailers' attitudes ahead of Walmart's anticipated entry into South Africa.

"This is the beginning of the Walmartisation of the sector," said Mbongwe.

Global retail giant Walmart initially made a non-binding offer to buy Massmart for R30bn.

Following some negative reaction to the announcement, Massmart said in September it had no doubt the chain of discount department stores would honour pre-existing union relationships and abide by South African labour laws.

Walmart said at the time it respected and abided by the laws of countries in which it operated.

Last week Walmart said it could consider acquiring 55% of Massmart, instead of the 100% it initially proposed.

This would keep Massmart listed on the JSE.

The revised offer followed consultations with "major Massmart shareholders and key South African stakeholders", Massmart said in a statement last Thursday.

It said it was premature to discuss the specifics of Saccawu’s concerns “in the absence of a final offer from Wal-Mart.”

“ It seems equally clear that the position adopted by Saccawu enjoys little support amongst Massmart employees,” it said.

“Furthermore, Wal-Mart has repeatedly indicated that it will honour pre-existing union relationships and abide by South African labour law, an approach that is consistent with its practice in other countries within which it has operations,” the company added.

Massmart CEO  Grant Pattison said:  “The door remains open to discussions with Saccawu to the extent that they choose to engage directly with management rather than only through the media.”

 

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