Nissan SA began issuing forced retrenchment notices this week after too few workers applied for the manufacturer’s voluntary separation programme.
Nissan SA began issuing forced retrenchment notices this week after too few workers applied for the manufacturer’s voluntary separation programme.
According to Business Report, the manufacturer has informed 453 workers that they will be leaving on Friday when the plant closes for its year-end shutdown. The notices were presented on the last-in first-out principle.
Only 323 workers had applied for the packages, negotiated with the Metalworkers’ Union, when the offer closed last Wednesday. The offer was extended until last Friday and the total applications increased to 400. Nissan needs to retrench 916 workers, or a minimum of 616 in terms of its agreement with the Union.
The agreement is aimed at replacing older workers at the Rosslyn plant near Pretoria. The affected workers were to have then trained the new recruits.
Henry Grimbeek, Nissan SA’s senior vice-president for human resources, said many applications were from younger people, which was "not in the spirit of the rejuvenation" programme.
Numsa spokesman Dumisa Ntuli said the union had spoken to workers about the consequences of too few workers applying for the packages. He said the problem was that the older workers did not want to apply for the packages as they wanted to keep their jobs.
This was the second time the voluntary programme had failed. Only 27 workers applied for packages when the first programme was initiated last month.