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BusinessLive reports that the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (Sactwu) wants competition authorities to revoke the 2012 merger between consumer goods company AVI and shoemaker Green Cross for alleged breach of job commitments.
Sactwu also wants AVI to be blacklisted from acquiring and “damaging” other non-fast-moving consumer goods manufacturers in future. Green Cross became a subsidiary of AVI when it bought the company in 2012 for R382.5m. Last month AVI shut down the Green Cross factory and retrenched 320 footwear workers. Green Cross continues to operate but sells only imported footwear. Sactwu said that job commitments made in 2012 were offered as guarantees for the merger and the decision to approve it was dependent on those commitments, which the union believes were not time-bound. Sactwu is of the view that the retrenchments are a direct consequence of the 2012 merger and that since then there has been a rapid degeneration of the more than 40-year-old footwear company. The Competition Commission’s spokesperson confirmed receipt of the union’s complaint. Over the years, Green Cross has received Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) grants and loans to improve its competitiveness, amounting to R19.4m. The IDC was not informed of AVI’s plans to close the factory prior to the decision being made, but is engaging Green Cross regarding the status of assets and machinery procured through the clothing and textiles competitiveness programme
Read the full original of Jackie May’s report on this story at BusinessLive
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