HOSPITALITY and retail group Meikles Limited has described the current retrenchment exercise as necessary to ensure business remains viable.
BY BATANAI MUTASA
The company served employees with termination letters while at work last Friday in a nationwide exercise, which is reportedly targeted at releasing over 70% of its workforce.
Workers’ representatives told our sister paper Southern Eye Business that Meikles Bulawayo had retrenched 33 workers out of 43.
Affected employees expressed surprise saying they had not been notified of the development before receiving the termination letters.
“The managing director said he would come and engage us one-on-one and we were still waiting for him, only to receive these letters,” said one worker Khumbulani Tshuma.
Meikles company secretary Thabani Mpofu said the development was unfortunate, but refuted allegations that workers were unaware of the process.
“That is not accurate because since last year, management went round all branches in the country informing people that a rationalisation exercise was inevitable,” said Mpofu. He said every action to ensure a fair process and amicable separation had been taken.
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“We know the law requires us to give three months’ notice before terminating employment and to cater for that, we have undertaken to pay three months’ salary in lieu of that notice period.
In addition, we have also granted a gratuity payment in acknowledgement of the service a person has given us over the years,” he said.
Mpofu added that the company would also consider all the affected employees for re-employment when operations normalised.
Bulawayo branch workers committee chairman Victor Takaruva said that there were a number of unresolved issues that were not addressed in the letters of termination, including a disputed 2012 10% increment, which Meikles did not honour.
Takaruva said the company had also awarded them shares as part of an indigenisation process, and from 2008 to 2010, workers were forced to go on unpaid leave.
The matter is still in court, but Takaruva said the termination letters did not touch on the issue. However, Mpofu denied the accusations that Meikles was being inconsiderate.
“Everything has been done according to the strict dictates of the law, but we also have to understand that we are dealing with people who will understandably be emotional.
“We always try to treat our employees well even in tough times. For example, we closed our Gweru branch, but kept workers on our payroll for over 18 months as we tried to resuscitate operations. That is the kind of consideration we afford to all our employees,” he said.
