COSATU said yesterday it was shocked by the announcement by retailer Pick n Pay on Wednesday that it was contemplating the retrenchment of about 3137 workers.
Pick n Pay, which employs 36673 people, said the decision was made in the face of major problems confronting the company in respect of declining profitability and the loss of market share.
Operations director Neal Quirk said that the company had issued the South Africa Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu) with a letter in accordance with the Labour Relations Act.
Cosatu said it would back any action that its affiliate Saccawu took to save jobs, and said it believed the move was a response to the threat posed by the takeover of Massmart by US giant Walmart.
But analysts believe Pick n Pay's announcement has very little to do with the Massmart-Wal-mart deal and more with the re-engineering of the group as it tries to curb its "ludicrously high" cost base.
Pick n Pay's annual report puts salaries, wages and other benefits at R4,3billion.
"They've been the best payers in the industry, with the best benefits. So it must have hit really hard for them to do this," analyst Chris Gilmour said.
Pick n Pay slammed
COSATU said yesterday it was shocked by the announcement by retailer Pick n Pay on Wednesday that it was contemplating the retrenchment of about 3137 workers.
Pick n Pay, which employs 36673 people, said the decision was made in the face of major problems confronting the company in respect of declining profitability and the loss of market share.
Operations director Neal Quirk said that the company had issued the South Africa Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu) with a letter in accordance with the Labour Relations Act.
Cosatu said it would back any action that its affiliate Saccawu took to save jobs, and said it believed the move was a response to the threat posed by the takeover of Massmart by US giant Walmart.
But analysts believe Pick n Pay's announcement has very little to do with the Massmart-Wal-mart deal and more with the re-engineering of the group as it tries to curb its "ludicrously high" cost base.
Pick n Pay's annual report puts salaries, wages and other benefits at R4,3billion.
"They've been the best payers in the industry, with the best benefits. So it must have hit really hard for them to do this," analyst Chris Gilmour said.
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