Cape Town - Attempts to halt the shutdown of the Langeberg and Ashton Food canning plant continue as workers continue to show unity.
On Wednesday, unions met employees to give feedback and reassure them the battle is far from over. Unions included Society Development Trade Union, Food and Allied Workers Union, Bawusa and Non-union members.
This gathering followed a consultation meeting that took place on Monday where, according to Nosey Pieterse, the general secretary and chief negotiator Society Development Trade Union, it was agreed that production won't be affected for the duration of the 60 consultations days and beyond. He says it was also agreed that all employees, including non-union members, are to be represented in all meetings.
Cosatu’s deputy parliamentary officer Tony Ehrenreich said processes would be put in place to boycott Tiger Brands products if they fail to cooperate.
“The unions, the community and the farmers are united to work to keeping the plant open, and there will be a march to Ashton canning to show government and the management that we will not allow the plant to close. There has been widespread condemnation of the conduct of Tiger Brands by government and society and calls for putting South African jobs and food security before excessive profits for management and boards.”
Canning Fruit Producers' Association CEO Jacques Jordaan said: “It is gratifying to know that people are standing together to prevent the devastating impact of this decision on society and the industry. Unfortunately, time is not on our side. Today (Tuesday), we already passed the 19th day of the 60-day consultation period. We hope that a sustainable solution can be found.
It has transpired that there could be interested parties willing to save the sinking ship at a meeting also held on Monday by the Western Cape Government and Tiger Brands.
Tiger Brands’ chief corporate affairs and sustainability officer Mary-Jane Morifi said: “Tiger Brands continues to proactively engage with parties interested in acquiring the Langeberg.
“The efforts to facilitate the preservation of jobs include an offer by Tiger Brands to provide ‘level of vendor’ and a guaranteed offtake if the Growers Consortium was able to raise the necessary funding to continue to operate the business as a going concern. However, the consortium has not been successful, so far, in raising this required funding,” she added.
Provincial minister of agriculture Ivan Meyer explained: “The Western Cape department of agriculture is working closely with organised agriculture, other national departments, and key stakeholders to support the agri-processing sub-sector and jobs in the Western Cape. For this reason, we met with Tiger Brands to consider options to save jobs in the Ashton Area.”
Weekend Argus