Hardware store staff continue national strike
About 30 Port Alfred, 28 Makhanda employees protesting
Employees of The Building Company are approaching their third week of picketing outside the company’s premises in Port Alfred and Makhanda.
About 30 members of the Building, Wood & Allied Workers Union of SA (BWAWUSA) in Port Alfred and 28 in Makhanda, along with 397 other members at BUCO’s branches across the country embarked on the nationwide strike on February 26.
The strike, protected in terms of the Labour Relations Act, followed the failure of the union and the employer to agree on a range of employment related issues, including wage increases.
Documents indicate that the union has 455 members at BUCO stores nationwide and that 46 of 48 BUCO branches across the country are affected by the protected strike.
A formal labour dispute between union members and The Building Company in late 2023 was referred to conciliation.
The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) declared the dispute unresolved as of October 10 2023.
Further union-employer negotiations took place at a national level, including on February 9 and 23, BWAWUSA assistant general secretary Clarence Mtyenele told Talk of the Town.
Documents seen by TOTT indicate that a wide range of issues are on the table, including bonus pay, structuring of the provident fund, weekends off, clarification on the grading system, and the number of leave days.
Other concerns such as personal protective equipment (PPE) have been resolved.
There is no timeframe determined by the picketing rules; however, there are detailed conditions, including the exact areas where the picketers may gather, as well as how many may gather at once.
The terms include a no work, no pay rule and the agreement that no customers or non-striking staff will be affected by the picketers.
The regional management of BUCO referred TOTT to the company’s national office for comment. By the time of publishing, TOTT had not yet received a response to an email requesting the company’s statement on the strike.
While TOTT was initially in discussion with BWAWUSA’s national office, we had not yet received a response to a request for an update on the strike by the time of publishing.
However, one of the local striking staff members said the picketing would continue and that so far no date had been set for further negotiations.
According to its website (bwawusa.org) the union was founded in 2002 by a group of workers who felt a need to form an independent and nonpolitical affiliated organisation.
According to BWAWUSA, it is one of SA’s fastest growing trade unions.
Initially the union mainly organised workers in the building sector around the Western Cape.
On its website, the union says BWAWUSA is part of various sectors, including the cement manufacturing, cement products, ceramic, heavy clay & allied products, roadmaking, stone crushing, woodworking, construction, building suppliers, security, domestic sector, and farming and agriculture a food processing industries.