‘We’re being victimised’
IN THE ongoing legal slugfest between retail giant Spar and powerful businesspeople, the Giannacopoulos family, this week, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) let rip with a weighty blow.
On Monday, the Giannacopoulos family was ordered by the CCMA to pay nearly R12 million to their workers for having docked their salaries illegally and not adhering to minimum wage regulations.
Their handling of overtime and holiday pay, leave and other labour issues were also questioned.
The family was given 14 days to make the R11 935 478 payment, failing which they would then be forced to pay accrued interest, in keeping with section 75 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
Inspections were conducted at 10 of the family’s stores by Department of Labour officials in May, after receiving complaints that various labour laws were allegedly being flouted.
The family controls 41 Spar stores, 10 of which were in Kwazulu-natal, with a staff complement of approximately 2 800 members.
The Spar Group Ltd has already taken drastic steps to eject the Giannacopoulos family from its circle and claimed the family had brought their brand into disrepute.
Apart from using the family’s alleged labour infringements to substantiate their arguments in court, the group had claimed that the family had committed other misdemeanours, which negatively impacted on the Spar brand.
Those include, trading in expired goods and having business interests in rival supermarket franchise groups, which was not in compliance with the trade terms and conditions they agreed to with the Spar Group.
Spar used the alleged infringements to support their ex parte applications made with the Pretoria and Pietermaritzburg high courts, respectively, on October 16.
The orders were granted and the Spar group duly took complete control of the family’s 41 stores, as per the order.
But the family denied the claims made by Spar and was able to regain control of all their stores, through their own court action, two days later.
They followed up with a twopart application in the Pietermaritzburg High Court to negate Spar’s move to terminate their membership and to reinstate their status quo with the group.
In November, they released another counterpunch in the form of an R18m damages claim where they accused Spar of “data theft” and other illegal acts, relating to the two days they had control of the Giannacopoulos’s stores.
Attorney Mary Erlank, who represents the family, said the latest action against her client was “vexatious behaviour from the Department of Employment and Labour and the CCMA, which is being driven by Spar”.
The Spar Group denied the allegations and promised to “vigorously” defend their honour.
Regarding this week’s court verdict, Mandy Hogan, spokesperson for Spar, denied any involvement.
“They own their stores and employ their own staff – Spar does not employ their staff. So it was their staff who instituted a complaint against them with the CCMA.”
Hogan said they didn’t wish to comment further as it was a matter between the department of labour and the Giannacopulos family.
“The legal actions between Spar and the family are set down for hearing this month. Therefore, all issues sub judice.
“Spar cannot, under any circumstances, condone any contravention of the laws of South Africa, and in particular the labour laws.”
Hogan said Spar family values and the culture of caring and community underpinned everything they did, to ensure pleasant experiences for their customers.
“Spar will continue to act in the best interests of its stakeholders, and as far as the legal matters are concerned, we hope for a speedy resolution.”
Hogan confirmed that they had returned all Spar stores belonging to the family. between the parties are
HARRY Giannacoupolous, a shareholder in the family business, confirmed that eight arbitration awards, close to R12 million, were granted by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) against the Spar outlets his family owned.
He viewed the action as an orchestrated attack, which was driven by the Spar Guild of Southern
Africa and Spar Group Limited, and welcomed by the Department of Employment and Labour.
He said it spoke volumes about a vendetta against his family, which made a mockery of labour laws.
He assured that all their shops were all compliant with labour laws.
Giannacoupolous accused the department of being a “private gun for hire”.
“It is clear the timing of its action against us is more than a coincidence.”
Giannacoupolous claimed that visits by inspectors of the department of employment and labour to his shops resulted in staff being conspicuously harassed, as they had no issues to report and were happy at their workplace.
“It got to a stage where my staff were threatening to deal with the inspectors themselves.
“Since May 2019, various external parties made serious accusations against a number of Spar and other retail outlets, owned by our family. In June, the department targeted
31 of our Spar outlets and issued compliance orders regarding some of the alleged contraventions.
“We rectified issues identified within two weeks and monies owed to employees were paid.”
Giannacoupolous said their HR manager and attorney followed-up with letters to various department heads confirming their actions.
In spite of receiving confirmation from the department that they were in compliance in November, they were informed by a department head about the application to the CCMA, two days later.
He said that they then lodged their objection to the action.
“The various cases were supposed to go for arbitration but the Group learned awards were granted against them when it appeared in the media and a statement was released on Monday without us being informed.
The CCMA Commissioner clearly did not follow the law, as it appears that the arbitration was done in private and without us being present.
“There are 970 Spar outlets in South Africa but none beside ours have been constantly audited. It is blatantly obvious that we are being victimised and targeted,” he said.