Clover seeks court order over strike

Dairy foods and beverage group Clover has approached the labour court to declare the strike over wages unprotected after workers marched across the Johannesburg CBD this week and stripped store shelves of its products as part of their boycott strategy. The strike is now in its ninth week.

Dairy foods and beverage group Clover has approached the labour court to declare a strike over wages unprotected after workers marched across the Johannesburg CBD and stripped store shelves of products as part of their boycott strategy.

The nationwide strike by unionised Clover employees intensified in its ninth week when workers took to retail stores on Tuesday to remove Clover products from shelves to put them into shopping trolleys.

Members of the Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Fawu) and the General Industries Workers Union of SA (Giwusa) have called for consumers to stop buying Clover products until their demands are met.

In documents seen by Business Day, the company approached the court on an urgent basis seeking to interdict the consumer boycott campaign, pending a separate court process expected to start on Thursday, when it will seek an order declaring the strike as unprotected.

SEVEN LEADERS

Clover wants the court to restrain a group of seven union leaders from encouraging or inciting union members and members of the public to disrupt the business operations of any of its customers’ business operations. It also asked the court to stop unions from picketing outside the residence of Clover Group CEO Johann Vorster in pursuit of their demands.

“Unions and their members have taken the law into their own hands by intimidating other non-striking workers, removing products from shelves and affecting the businesses of retailers,” Clover said.

“We have no choice but to take urgent action,” Clover spokesperson Steven Velthuysen told Business Day, adding “this kind of behaviour is completely unacceptable”.

Due to restructuring, Clover implemented a retrenchment process that sparked protests at its factories in Clayville, Durban, Gqeberha, Polokwane and Cape Town. Workers have accused the company of backtracking on the merger conditions of its takeover by Milco when it started laying off workers in 2021.

When the Israeli consortium Milco acquired Clover in a R4.8bn deal in 2019, it agreed to a moratorium on retrenchments for three years. At the time, Milco reported a worst-case scenario of 277 workers being retrenched. But workers insist Clover did not keep its end of the bargain when it implemented a section 189 measure in 2021 with about 2,000 workers being laid off, according to unions.

‘NOT TRUE’

Clover said: “This is simply and clearly not true. Clover is required to submit an annual report to the Competition Commission regarding the merger conditions, and all of them have been met so far.”

Clover says 850 workers have been retrenched to date as a result of the restructuring process, which it says it has now completed.

In wage negotiations, Clover offered a 4.5% salary increase but only after the 20% reduction had been implemented, which associations threw out.

On Wednesday, unions lambasted the company for filing court action against them to declare the strike unprotected.

Giwusa spokesperson Mametlwe Sebei said pressure was mounting on the company, with support for the consumer boycott and the government coming to the negotiating table. He said the company was trying to give the impression that the strike action was violent.

“The strike is beginning to hit them in a way they never anticipated because they have been trying to wear down workers by prolonging the strike and not engaging,” said Sebei.

“They can’t declare a strike illegal because of a boycott campaign.”

The matter has been postponed to Friday in the Johannesburg labour court.