Hundreds of Candy Tops workers given notice

THE closure of Candy Tops factory looms, with sources at the plant saying their Johannesburg owner, Lodestone Brands, has given hundreds of employees notice that next Friday will be their last day.

No response from Lodestone owner Nick Dennis’s human resources executive, Thabisa Moleshe – who has been mandated to handle the shutdown – to e-mails, SMSes and calls had been received at the time of writing yesterday. Lodestone has clamped down on any staff commenting to the media, starting with plant manager Phil de Jager, who in an interview with the Saturday Dispatch said he had proposed a rescue plan to Lodestone during a Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) hearing.

De Jager was suspended and staff formally banned from contacting him.

He confirmed last week that he had been dismissed but declined to speak about his future plans.

Union Fawu has also clammed up and calls to union leaders went unanswered.

At least 350 jobs are on the line, among them 100 contract workers.

Most of the workers are women and many are single mothers.

The Dispatch has reliably that:

● No consensus was reached during the CCMA process and the only next step to save jobs is an approach to the Labour Court;

● Unions have taken Lodestone back to the CCMA over a two-week shutdown of production last month, learned with the company arguing they had issued notice and were entitled to go into “short time”.

The unions argued this could not be on a no-work, no-pay basis;

● Workers returned to work this month, but received weekly wages even though there was little production in the first week of the month;

● Lodestone has been preparing to move more profitable confectionery line machinery and has offered some jobs at their Johannesburg plant, where a new R23-million machine is waiting. —