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[FILE] Numsa members on strike.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has embarked on an indefinite strike at the Bidvest SA Container Depot in Durban over the retrenchment of 106 members.
The strike follows failed Section-189 consultations between the Numsa and Bidvest which started soon after the notice was served to the union in September.
NUMSA is on strike at Bidvest SACD to defend the jobs of permanent employees. Details below 👇🏾 #NUMSAEverywhere@IrvinJimSA
❤️🖤💛 pic.twitter.com/ZVjj47tQOn— NUMSA (@Numsa_Media) January 15, 2025
Numsa has accused Bidvest of lying about being in financial distress and abusing company processes to advance its profits.
Union spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola says, “They claimed in their Section-189A notice that the reasons they are doing this is because they are losing revenue, they’ve lost customers, they’re not making as much money because of the impact of the crisis that we had at the ports. However, in our Section-189 engagements with them, it emerged through interrogation that this company is not doing as badly as they claim. In fact, they are gaining new customers. What they’re actually doing is they are trying to increase their profits by outsourcing this particular arm of the business.”
Numsa has also called on Bidvest to terminate its plans to outsource the work of the depo in Durban and says it remains open to negotiations.
“They have figured out that if they outsource this division, they are going to make a lot of profit. It’s going to cost them a lot less because they won’t have to pay permanent salaries, they won’t have to pay bonuses – all of the things that we’ve negotiated as terms of conditions in their work – they won’t have to do it. We think it’s quite disgraceful that a company can be as selfish as Bidvest to embark on retrenchment purely for profit-making purposes.”
PODCAST | Strike action as Bidvest announces job cuts:
