Saccawu's Clicks' Group members begin strike

Last week the union said its members at retailer Clicks Group would embark on a protected strike "in pursuance of the struggle for a living wage and in support of their demand for decent wage increases".

The company has offered a wage increase of 9.5% to its staff within the bargaining unit - which is well above the current inflation rate of 5.7%.

However, the union rejected the offer after five months of wage negotiations.

The bargaining unit consists of 1086 non-union members and 2324 Saccawu members.

Wage negotiations between Clicks and Saccawu commenced in May 2011 and the parties have been in a formal dispute since early July 2011 despite participation in a private dispute resolution meeting as well as a number of CCMA mediated dispute resolution meetings.

Last week Michael Harvey, managing director of Clicks, said the group believed that the offer was generous, given the current trading conditions and the impact of the global recession on the South African economy.

Harvey said there would be minimal impact on trading and customer service as contingency plans were in place and additional temporary employees had been recruited for the peak trading period.

"The strike will continue [Friday] where workers will stage marches in Cape Town and Johannesburg and a further march is planned for Saturday in Durban,' Saccawu said on Thursday.