Blood on the factory floor as Clover shuts plant
City Deep goes down with 800 staff
The retrenchment spree at SA’S biggest dairy group Clover seems to show no signs of slowing, with over 800 employees at the company’s City Deep distribution unit set to lose their jobs from May.
In a letter sent to union shop stewards on January 31, the company stated that it was contemplating closing the City Deep branch in Johannesburg and relocate its operations to the Atlas facility in Boksburg with effect from May. All positions would potentially be affected.
According to the letter, Clover has three large central distribution centres in Gauteng – Clayville, Atlas and City Deep.
Both Clayville and City Deep are owned by the company while Atlas is rented.
“Over the past year, the volume throughout these facilities has reduced significantly.
“Due to the drastic market decline resulting from poor economic conditions and the substantial decrease in volume demand, the company is forced to look at, among others, cost-saving initiatives, the closure of the City Deep facility and relocating the operation to the Atlas facility.”
Clover also said the moratorium placed on the filling of vacancies would continue, hinting that permanent staff would be requested to take early retirement packages, while temporary and contract workers would be fired.
Workers Sunday World spoke to relived the hardships they face with the decimation of jobs at the company .
Papi Ndhlozi said: “What Clover has done is unfair. We were given letters where we were threatened with retrenchments if we don’t sign the 20% salary cut.
“This is slavery and racist as they didn’t start from top management with salary cuts. The president should intervene in this situation as this is totally wrong.”
Smangele Aphane said: “This thing [retrenchments] is going to destroy our families. I was earning R8 400 as a merchandiser and if I had agreed to the salary cut, I would have been earning way too less. I have a family to take care of.
“I am hurt, this company is playing with us, and I am concerned about the stability of my kids when things are like this.”
Another worker, Patrick Rambau, said: “We were given retrenchment letters in November last year, even though some of the workers were given a lifeline that they will be transferred to Atlas, others like me were not so lucky. I have been working here for 18 years as a merchandiser, this is a sad situation.
“We are protesting to save our jobs and this has created a hostile situation between us and the employer.”
Sunday World reported last week that Clover’s Frankfort branch in the Free State was shut down, leaving 80 workers unemployed.
The jobs bloodbath at the company started when Tel Avivbased Central Bottling Company acquired the company in a multibillion-rand deal.
The Competition Commission has since launched an investigation on whether Clover’s Israeli owner flouted its commitments to the competition authorities.
South African Federation of Trade Unions president Zwelinzima Vavi said that Israel’s Central Bottling Co (CBC), which had invested in the buyout offer of Clover, should be disinvested.
“We want the disinvestment of the CBC, a company that has come to invest the takeover of Clover and Milco. They had promised the Competition Commission that they would not retrench workers until October.
“550 job creation in the next five years was promised by CBC
“Instead of doing that, they are retrenching 2 000 workers with six plants to be closed nationally. As a result, they will be retrenching more workers.
“This nonsense of cutting a staggering 20% of workers’ salaries should also stop,” said Vavi.