South Africa: Court Dismisses Bid to Stop Retrenchment of SA Breweries Workers

Union accuses SAB of "turning decent jobs into cheap labour"

The Labour Court in Johannesburg has dismissed an urgent application by members of the Food and Allied Workers' Union (FAWU) for an interdict stopping retrenchments at South African Breweries (SAB).

On Tuesday, about 50 members wearing red union t-shirts and carrying placards picketed outside the court where the matter was heard.

This follows the company's decision to retrench 233 employees.

FAWU wanted the court to compel SAB to follow "fair procedure" in the retrenchment of workers already in progress at its local brewery. They also wanted the court to interdict SAB and its parent company AB InBev from instituting future dismissals.

In a statement, FAWU said, "Displacing workers into the ranks of more than 13-million unemployed citizens in South Africa is unacceptable. Our country already faces a high unemployment rate, and companies cannot casually discard workers into the abyss of poverty."

FAWU Gauteng chairperson William Mokgase told GroundUp that workers had faced continuous retrenchments since 2020.

"In 2020, SAB retrenched 330 workers, in 2021 about 60, in 2022 around 150, and in 2023 another 70. Last year they cut more than 100 jobs, and now 233 more jobs are on the line," he said. "If we fail to defend these jobs, they will come for everyone."

Mokgase accused SAB of replacing permanent workers with workers contracted through labour brokers. "They have the audacity to retrench workers and rehire them under brokers. This is turning decent jobs into cheap labour which is why we came to court on an urgent basis," he said.

SAB had not responded to our questions by the time of publication.

FAWU's lawyer, Anton Roskam, argued in court that the retrenchments amounted to unfair labour practices and warned that families would suffer as a result.

SAB's lawyers argued that the restructuring formed part of efficiency measures being implemented at the company.

Judge Molatelo Robert Makhura struck the matter off the urgent roll and advised the union to resubmit its application.

Read the original article on GroundUp.