WINDHOEK – South Africa’s multinational retail chain store, Shoprite Checkers, is as usual playing down claims from its aggrieved employees, saying the charges are a fabrication of the union representing the workers.
The union, Namibia Commercial Catering Food and Allied Workers Union (NACCAFWU) this week threatened Shoprite Checkers with a countrywide strike if the company continues to ignore the issues raised about poor salaries, exploitation, unfair deductions and unfair labour practices.
Shoprite Checkers has been accused of enforcing some of the most inhuman working conditions, with workers given limited ‘toilet time’ in a day, and enforcing such conditions to an extent where management allegedly pull employees from the bathroom, when an employee has used up the allocated ‘toilet time’.
Shoprite Checkers’ South African based manager for corporate communications, Sarita van Wyk, declined to comment on the specific allegations when emailed with questions, instead saying:
“Shoprite Namibia does not wish to conduct labour relations in the press, but needs to point out that the statements made by NACCAFWU are not accurate in all respects.
“Shoprite Namibia gives recognition and related benefits to trade unions in terms of country labour relations regulations and unions are required to abide by them.”
The grievances are from workers at Shoprite, U-Save, Hungry Lion, House & Home, Fresh Mark, OK Furniture, among others.
However, yesterday NACCAFWU’s Secretary General John Paporo reiterated the union’s commitment to the planned national strike, saying “at this point the union is determined to press ahead, even if the strike is illegal”.
“We will not sit idle while workers are exploited by employers. We’ll do whatever we can to get this issue sorted. Some of these workers have been working for the company for more than ten years, even more than that, and you will find they are only paid sometimes less than N$3 000 a month,” he said.
“These are huge companies raking in millions of dollars a month but some of their long-serving employees do not even have pension, medical aid or transport allowance,” he added.
Paporo says the union has evidence of workers being exploited at shops across the country and has forwarded it to the labour commissioner.
“It is very evident that workers are being exploited at these shops, you can even go there yourself, it won’t be hard to see the exploitation yourself,” he said.
He said sometimes workers are forced to work overtime without getting an overtime allowance.