Unfriendly dismissal by supermarket

THIRTY workers left jobless after a South African chain supermarket suddenly shut up shop on Wednesday will launch a protest against the decision today.

Sales Manager Vic Goosen of the Friendly Supermarket at the Auas Valley shopping centre informed the mainly female employees of the closure at around 17h00 on Wednesday, a labour union official claims. The acting Secretary General of the Namibian Food and Allied Workers Union (Nafau), Kiros Sackarias, yesterday accused the company of dishonesty and “gambling with people’s livelihoods and feelings”.”Our Nafau office only received a fax on Wednesday at 15h15 from Mr Goosen informing us that the supermarket would close that very afternoon.I immediately went to see him and on arrival enquiring from the workers I found out they were totally unaware that the supermarket would close down a few hours later,” Sackarias told a media briefing.The employers were informed that they need not report to work for the rest of the month and would receive retrenchment packages on September 2.Goosen cited “unaffordable rental fees” and “losses” as reasons for closing down.”Their employer was all along not honest with the staff and Nafau considers the action of the company disgraceful and (an example of) bad labour practice,” the union leader claimed.Sackarias condemned an alleged deliberate move by management to keep the workforce in the dark and called for a customer boycott of the Friendly Supermarket chain.He showed a letter written by Agra, the owners of the shopping complex, which was written on July 28 to all tenants, informing them that Friendly Supermarket gave notice on April 4 that it would close on August 2.”They did not even offer us jobs at the other ‘Friendly’ outlets,” one affected woman told this newspaper.”I am the breadwinner and I have three children to feed, where will I find a new job,” she lamented.When approached, Goosen said he could not comment on the plight of the workers.”We are in constant negotiations with Nafau and it would be unfair if I say anything at this stage,” he told The Namibian.The Ohlthaver & List Group will take over the shop space and open another Pick ‘n Pay outlet there in October.The acting Secretary General of the Namibian Food and Allied Workers Union (Nafau), Kiros Sackarias, yesterday accused the company of dishonesty and “gambling with people’s livelihoods and feelings”.”Our Nafau office only received a fax on Wednesday at 15h15 from Mr Goosen informing us that the supermarket would close that very afternoon.I immediately went to see him and on arrival enquiring from the workers I found out they were totally unaware that the supermarket would close down a few hours later,” Sackarias told a media briefing.The employers were informed that they need not report to work for the rest of the month and would receive retrenchment packages on September 2.Goosen cited “unaffordable rental fees” and “losses” as reasons for closing down.”Their employer was all along not honest with the staff and Nafau considers the action of the company disgraceful and (an example of) bad labour practice,” the union leader claimed.Sackarias condemned an alleged deliberate move by management to keep the workforce in the dark and called for a customer boycott of the Friendly Supermarket chain.He showed a letter written by Agra, the owners of the shopping complex, which was written on July 28 to all tenants, informing them that Friendly Supermarket gave notice on April 4 that it would close on August 2.”They did not even offer us jobs at the other ‘Friendly’ outlets,” one affected woman told this newspaper.”I am the breadwinner and I have three children to feed, where will I find a new job,” she lamented.When approached, Goosen said he could not comment on the plight of the workers.”We are in constant negotiations with Nafau and it would be unfair if I say anything at this stage,” he told The Namibian.The Ohlthaver & List Group will take over the shop space and open another Pick ‘n Pay outlet there in October.