The strike at Dis-Chem Pharmacies which had its offset on 16 November 2018 officially ended today, 10 April 2019, with workers going back to work. Dis-Chem announced that many of the strikers will be dismissed and that disciplinary action will be taken for misconduct during the strike.
However, as much as they have the right to discipline those who are guilty of misconduct, we as NUPSAW have the right to protect our members – it can be through campaigns, or through legal action. We will do anything in our power to protect our members.
We are not shaken by their announcement. If needs be, Dis-Chem will not operate if they try to slaughter our members through disciplinary hearings. If the Employer plan to harm our members, we will harm Dis-Chem.
NUPSAW have tried to engage the Employer through the legal route. Our approach was to have a moratorium so that we can develop a healthy relationship with the company and to engage robustly with the issue. But it became clear that their intention was to destroy the union and therefore they completely refuse to engage with us in negotiations.
Since they reported a 13.3 percent growth in their 2017/2018 financial year turnover to R19.6 billion up from R17.3 billion it is an insult that there are still workers earning below the national minimum wage of R3 500.
For more information
NUPSAW Spokesperson
078 195 6546
012 3421674