Workers up in arms at Paarl Print
2009-07-16
UNCERTAINTY about who at Paarl Print will retain their jobs and who will have to go, has led to great dissatisfaction amongst employees. Angry workers threatened to hold a protest in front of the office of Paarl Media in Jan van Riebeeck Drive last Friday, but eventually decided such action would be illegal and called it off. Paarl Print recently signed an agreement with a forum comprising of the SA Typographical Union (Satu), the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers Union (Ceppwawu) and non-unionised representation that only 194 of the 366 employees will remain employed after the end of this week. The other 172 people are to be retrenched with settlement packages, following the fire which destroyed the printing plant on 17 April and killed 13 employees. The forensic investigation into the cause of the fire has not yet been completed. The proposed restructuring process is due to be completed by tomorrow and it is hoped to re-establish the factory by April or May next year. The remaining employees will be accommodated within the Paarl Media group until then. According to Paarl Media spokesperson Nelia Burger, the retrenchments are not linked to the fire, but were planned before the event. She added that the R7 million which had been collected for the fire victims would be paid out as soon as the trust fund was registered (this is a lengthy legal process). Allocations will be done by independent external trustees according to criteria agreed to by the unions and the beneficiaries. “These funds cannot be utilised to fund retrenchment packages. Severance packages will be funded by Paarl Print and no public funds will be used.”
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