Publications
Partners
The consumer health division of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), recently renamed Haleon, is slashing approximately 178 jobs at the Cape Town site due to the modernisation and automation of manufacturing processes that are to be implemented in the company.
The company recently concluded a section 189 consultation process with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) to retrench about 300 workers effectively from Friday; however, through further consensus-seeking processes, these have been reduced to 178.
The company produces consumer products such as Sensodyne, Med-lemon and Aquafresh.
Haleon told City Press that as business leaders, they had a responsibility to respond to the changing market conditions and the evolving environment in which it operated.
READ: Employees retrenched from old age home claim ‘unethical dismissal’, demand jobs back
More efficient processes lead to job cuts
According to some employees in the company, the workers who will be most impacted are the machine operators.
The consumer healthcare company said:
They added that the proposed changes included the retrenchment of employees in identified departments at the Cape Town site.
According to the firm, the onslaught has been reduced by 122 people because of joint consensus-seeking processes.
“The proposed changes are necessary to make more efficient use of the site’s capacity through a future-fit end-to-end supply chain, helping to maintain the competitiveness and continuity of our business. The Cape Town site has been in existence for over 70 years and its long history is a result of the ability to adapt, innovate and deliver for customers in a modernising world.”
Haleon said that it remained committed to local manufacturing and to serving South African customers.
“The purpose of our proposed changes is to maintain a globally competitive manufacturing hub not only for South Africa, but also for other African countries.”
Some employees in the company who asked to remain anonymous said the 122 affected employees have accepted voluntary severance packages.
ICHAWU and SACP prepared to fight bloodbath retrenchments
Meanwhile, the SA Communist Party released a statement pledging its full support to GSK workers affiliated with the Independent Commercial Hospitality and Allied Workers Union (Ichawu) and Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers' Union.
“In the consultation process, the vicious and barbaric pharmaceutical company placed modernisation and automation as the fundamental basis for this bloodbath. The SACP in the Western Cape reject this decision and we describe it as heartless and inhumane,” reads the statement.
The leadership of SACP Western Cape met with some of the workers who were predominately women on Thursday.
The statement further reads:
The notices of retrenchment were issued on May 5 in terms of section 189 (3) of the LRA.
The SACP has called on Haleon to reconsider its decision and implored it to look to other alternatives to save jobs. The communist party also called on the department of employment, labour and trade, industry and competition minister, Ebrahim Patel, to intervene.
City Press understands that workers affiliated with Ichawu have not yet signed their retrenchment letters and are still exploring other legal options.
READ: Got retrenched? Here’s how to bounce back after job loss
Dale Fish, leader of the Ichawu told City Press that he would be meeting with legal representatives regarding the issue to discuss a way forward.
GSK disclosure ruling
On July 3, Commissioner Melwyn Nash handed down a ruling based on the requests from Ichawu in the facilitation process for audited financial statements for the past 24 months, names and positions of impacted employees, and the names and positions of non-impacted employees, the position of shares, including how they would be paid.
“The request for disclosure of the annual financial statements for the past 24 months is refused. The request for disclosure of information around the 300 impacted employees has already been disclosed and if the union is not in possession of the annexures listing these details, the employer is ordered to disclose such information to them. The request for disclosure of information about the unimpacted employees is refused. The information requested around the shares/cash equivalents is refused. The request for the extension of the consultation period is hereby refused,” Nash said in her ruling.
