Woolies, union at CCMA

The matter has been referred to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration for a joint verification process, which will bring a settlement to the issue.

The union's members have been on strike since 22 September over an organisational rights dispute. The strike is not officially over, but Saccawu has told its members to go back to work now that the verification process has begun.

Saccawu wants to be recognised by the company and wants rights to access stop-order facilities to get membership fees directly from members' salaries. Fiona Fewell, human resources manager at Woolworths, said: “We are pleased that we found a settlement to this issue because we are not clear why it took so long to resolve.

“The union always maintained that they had sufficient numbers and we were willing to enter a joint verification process with them.”

Such a process, which was supposed to start yesterday, was postponed to tomorrow due to the unavailability of the commissioner. The process is expected to take about 15 days.

The outcome of this process will determine whether the union has representation at Woolworths or not. “Twenty-five percent membership will give them stop-order rights and 30percent or above will give the union access to organise in the workplace,” said Fewell.

Asked about the fate of those who participated in the strike, Fewell said: “This is a legally protected strike, so there will be no penalties, but special disciplinary steps will be taken against those who breached the picketing rules.

Thabo Mahlangu, Saccawu's national organiser, said the union had no option but to sustain the strike action because it couldn't afford to stop until a good agreement was reached.

“After the 30% membership verification, our strategy will then be to mobilise for the more than 50percent threshold within two weeks and we are positive that we can achieve it.”

In order for the union to bargain on behalf of its members, it needs more than 50percent membership.

Herbert Mkhize, executive director of the National Economic and Labour Council, said that he was happy to see the CCMA was managing the situation well.

“It is pleasing to note that institutions that we set up, such as the CCMA, are winning in their particular mandates without us having to intervene.”

Source: The Times

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