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Johannesburg - More than 80 000 members of the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu) will go on a one-day strike to demand that retail and wholesale companies establish a centralised bargaining forum for their employees, the trade union said on Thursday.
Saccawu members from 28 national companies such as Pick n Pay Stores [JSE:PIK], Makro, Foschini [JSE:FOS], Clicks Group[JSE:CLS], Truworths International [JSE:TRU], JD Group [JSE:JDG], Shoprite Holdings [JSE:SHP], Spar Group [JSE:SPP] and Woolworths Holdings [JSE:WHL] would strike on Friday, it said.
The union said its members had experienced a range of problems with companies when it came to salaries, working hours, organisational rights, strikes and picketing rules.
The forum was needed to resolve issues between workers and their employers.
"Saccawu's call for a Centralised Bargaining Forum has been on the union's agenda for years now and is more urgent today than ever before, the union said.
"Through a Centralised Bargaining Forum we will be able to establish broad framework, understanding, commitments and minimum standards that will serve to protect and improve the position of workers."
Saccawu said this was especially important as the global retail giant Walmart was trying to take over Massmart.
It said it had warned of the "Walmartisation" of the retail and wholesale sector as it drove down wages, eroded workers benefits, reduced working hours, extended trading hours.
"Centralised bargaining should be seen as part of the struggle against the Walmartisation."
The union said the best response to the entry of Walmart into South Africa would be to establish minimum standards that Walmart would be held to and this would be done through the bargaining forum.
"Workers employed in the retail and wholesale sector are amongst the lowest earning workers in the economy, after domestic, farm and security workers. The sector is amongst those with the highest levels of atypical employment contracts," the union said.
Saccawu members from 28 national companies such as Pick n Pay Stores [JSE:PIK], Makro, Foschini [JSE:FOS], Clicks Group[JSE:CLS], Truworths International [JSE:TRU], JD Group [JSE:JDG], Shoprite Holdings [JSE:SHP], Spar Group [JSE:SPP] and Woolworths Holdings [JSE:WHL] would strike on Friday, it said.
The union said its members had experienced a range of problems with companies when it came to salaries, working hours, organisational rights, strikes and picketing rules.
The forum was needed to resolve issues between workers and their employers.
"Saccawu's call for a Centralised Bargaining Forum has been on the union's agenda for years now and is more urgent today than ever before, the union said.
"Through a Centralised Bargaining Forum we will be able to establish broad framework, understanding, commitments and minimum standards that will serve to protect and improve the position of workers."
Saccawu said this was especially important as the global retail giant Walmart was trying to take over Massmart.
It said it had warned of the "Walmartisation" of the retail and wholesale sector as it drove down wages, eroded workers benefits, reduced working hours, extended trading hours.
"Centralised bargaining should be seen as part of the struggle against the Walmartisation."
The union said the best response to the entry of Walmart into South Africa would be to establish minimum standards that Walmart would be held to and this would be done through the bargaining forum.
"Workers employed in the retail and wholesale sector are amongst the lowest earning workers in the economy, after domestic, farm and security workers. The sector is amongst those with the highest levels of atypical employment contracts," the union said.
