Woolworths ordered to re-instate employees after retrenchments

Woolworths has been ordered to re-instate 44 full time employees whom it had retrenched after they initially refused to work flexi-hours.

The South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union’s (SATAWU) last proposal was that they would work 14 hours at full time wages, resulting in an 11 percent wage reduction. However, Woolworths rejected this proposal and went ahead with the retrenchments.

The Constitutional Court found that this was substantively unfair and that Woolworths had failed to consider alternatives to retrenchment.