Sello Motseta
10th June 2020
Miffed at the arrogance of the retail giant the fledgling Cashiers, Shop Assistants and Allied Workers Union(CASAWU) has taken legal action against Woolworths Botswana to receive union recognition for employees to enhance collective bargaining post COVID-19 outbreak and is also demanding P11,331.00 subscription fees for union members for the months of November 2019 to March 2020 after the retail giant unilaterally renegaded on settlement agreement reached in March 2020.
“The Woolworths group has been deducting union subscriptions from our union members and than they suddenly stopped. The law only recognizes subscribing members for unions to be effective in the workplace,” said Dimpho Nyambe, Secretary General(SG) of Cashiers Shop Assistants and Allied Workers Union (CASAWU).
He said, “This is despite the fact that we have a settlement agreement with them. We have had to go to court to demand compliance and organizational recognition.”
According to court records CASAWU and Woolworths signed a recognition agreement making the union a proper bargaining agent in the workplace consistent with a court issued on 14th February 2020. Woolworths unilaterally stopped deducting union dues from employees in November 2019.
CASAWU warned Woolworths to facilitate the deduction of union dues consistent with section 48B(1) of the Trade Unions and Employers Organizations Act which stipulates that a union recognized in terms of the law shall be entitled to trade union dues and levies deducted from the employees wages on the written consent of employees. It appeared Woolworths was uncomfortable with employees joining unions and wanted to deny employees their constitutional rights to affiliate to a union.
Woolworths conflict with unions emerged after a national lockdown and the outbreak of COVID-19 with fears growing that well established businesses are trying to find sophisticated ways of retrenching employees without undermining government policy to continue maximizing profits.
Efforts to get comments from Woolworths management on impasse were futile at time of publication
“We have a clear channel on who you(media) can contact for these issues. I cannot offer any feedback,” said Quinton Tike, Senior Human Resources Officer for Woolworths Botswana.
