South Africa Wakes Up to Wal-Mart

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6714/south_africa_wakes_up_to_wal-mart/

Wednesday Dec 1, 2010 12:02 pm

By Michelle Chen


Welcome to South Africa, Wal-Mart. The SACCAWU union is leading the battle against the "Wal-Martification" of the country's economy. (RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP/Getty Images)


The power struggle between labor unions and Wal-Mart has raged for years in communities across the country, though the retail behemoth's PR machine has managed to maintain its spiffy brand and unbeatable low prices. But the company may see challenges ahead as it moves onto new frontiers. The next battleground could be South Africa's burgeoning consumer marketplace, and labor groups are watching nervously as the Biggest Box of All descends on Africa.

Wal-Mart plans to take control of South African counterpart Massmart, to build out Wal-Mart's emerging dominon in Asia and the Western Hemisphere. But unlike China and other Wal-Martized developing nations, South Africa is known for its militant labor movement.

When Wal-Mart was negotiating for a majority stake in MassMart, the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU) sprang into action. SACCAWU, which claims to represent most of Massmart's workers, warned that the mere prospect of the Mart-Merger has emboldened anti-union forces.

A statement issued last month warned of “the beginning of the Walmartisation of the sector," noting that union leaders had:

observed a marked shift and increased hostility by many major retailers towards SACCAWU, engaging in aggressive rebranding, restructuring, re-engineering, repositioning culminating in retrenchments in most if not all cases; and general witch-hunts on shop-floor leaders in many stores throughout the country.

The union launched an education campaign to inform workers about Wal-Mart's arsenal of union-busting artillery, including instructions for management on “How To Remain Union Free.” From shutting down unionized stores to harassing organizers, the company has earned condemnation from the international human rights community.

FULL story at link.

[aquart]

1. GOOD.

May they succeed and spawn revolutions.

[applegrove]

2. So the strongest economy in Africa will be sending wealth back to the USA

and to the Walton family. And while they do that they undermine labour unions. Ducky!! Just DUCKY!

[Omaha Steve]

3. Kick