SACCAWU has noted with serious concern a News24 Article of 4 May 2026, under the title: “22 000 Pick n Pay workers face shake-up of benefits and weekend pay” and wishes to register our disappointment with the manner in which Pick ‘n Pay is behaving and conduct itself in the context of recent developments. In the article Pick n Pay CEO is quoted as claiming that “negotiations on the new employment conditions have started with SACCAWU”. This cannot be further from the truth as SACCAWU has no business engaging in any negotiations without having sought mandates from her members. It is mischievous and malicious of Pick n Pay to create an impression that there is in negotiations when in fact there is none. What the CEO is not declaring is the fact that Pick n Pay has simply decided to bypass the provisions, dictates and spirit of the law and directly served workers with S189 notice, instead of serving the Union, which is a collective bargaining agent of workeds in Pick n Pay. Such notices were in fact served on members and the Union after the company had ran off to the media to present factually inaccurate information to deceive the entire nation and in the course of this set the union against her members by claiming existence of negotiations. This is clear demonstration of a company that is hell-bent on getting what they want, no matter what and/or implications thereof.
SACCAWU is disturbed, but not entirely surprised that Pick n Pay chose to issue workers with Section 189 notices, without prior consultation with the Union on its intention to do so, as the conduct of the company of late has been bordering on arrogance and unilateralism of the scale never experienced before. This issuing of notices is despite high level meetings the CEO convened with the SACCAWU on 21 and 28 April 2026.
Sean Summers, the Pick n Pay CEO is quoted as claiming that the Section 189 process is necessitated by “12 years of concessions that have left Pick n Pay stores overstaffed weekends while relying on part-timers’ evenings and weekends when stores are busiest”. It further claims that workers’ conditions at Pick n Pay are “completely out of sync” with the industry and are “significantly more generous” than its competitors. What is most disappointing is that Seun Summer is quoted as suggesting that this a forgone process hence commenting that:
1. My staff WILL now be required to work on a roster basis,
2. Some of them WILL be required to work on Saturdays and Sundays,
3. Minimum guaranteed hours WILL be reviewed
4. Some agreed terms of the 3 years agreement WILL be affected.
The above attitude paints Summers as believing that he is the absolute authority, with the powers to do as he pleases, including rolling back the years by acting as high and mighty to workers who in his and his management team’s narrow exploitative assumption are rightless and MUST be deprived of the rights they have toiled for over the years. It is not just a figure of speech for him to refer to workers as “my staff” as this is tantamount to assuming power over others and discharge the authority that cannot be engaged, unless it is on his terms.
The certainty with which he is quoted as speaking, simply indicates that the company has a predetermined outcome of any process that they are claiming to be engaged with SACCAWU on, which is why Shaun Summers declares that: Workers WILL, the Guaranteed Minimum Hours WILL, Some Agreed Terms WILL. We dispute any claim of negotiations currently taking place that the Company is engaging with the SACCAWU on Section 189 as being far from the truth, since the company only served such notice today, after they nicodemusly approached the media and issued a media statement, after which they then saw fit to serve a Section 189 notice to the Union. It is strangely and curiously interesting that News24 simply accepted the claim of the company and ran with as if the company’s claim of engagement with the Union is the gospel truth and therefore no need to interact with the Union, at least to verify the veracity of such claim. Such type of journalism seriously raises doubts and credibility question. In response to this arrogant attack on workers and their benefits by the Company, SACCAWU, in support of her members, refuse to be bulldozed into giving up the workers’ rights and are prepared to fight tooth and nail in defence of these rights.
We wish record that the only interaction that the company has had was with the leadership of the Pick ‘n Pay Negotiations Committee, after having requested what is termed High Level Meeting but the date proposed by management was unfortunately not possible for the Union’s Secretariat and the Company deemed it fit to proceed and at this meeting made some presentation and raised issues that otherwise must be handled outside such forum and with a specific regulated procedure, as was declared by the leadership . The Company then went on to coerce these workers into agreeing not to communicate with members and union structure about such presentation and initiated an Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) to consolidate this. The Union Secretariat on hearing of these developments, attended a meeting on a date that was also imposed by the High Level Meeting, without consultation and at that meeting argued that there is no way the Union will engage in a process that will be kept secret from members and not report back to structures of the Union as that would undermine the fundamental existential principle of mandating processes of the Union, thus advanced the argument that the NDA needed to be nullified if the company has any intention of engaging the Union in any process. The company agreed to this, with the CEO tearing up all copies claiming good faith. Little did we know that it was just a steppingstone towards revealing the true bad faith demonstrated today!
Despite having agreed at the Union must first convene a meeting with the entire Negotiations Committee, brief them about the developments up to the nullifying of the NDA, and then convene an Extended Negotiations Committee meeting for the Company to then make their presentation and inform the Union of exactly what the issues are and what processes are intended, we are surprised that the company arrogantly decided to go out and mislead the nation through a media statement claiming a non-existent process!! We are preparing for the mother of all battles whereupon workers will protect their livelihood and well-being, which the company wants to trample upon and erode as if it was nothing!
We further wish to place on record that in the Section 189 Notices the Company has issued to workers, it claims that the losses it is currently experiencing is because of its Non-Management Bargaining Unit (NMBU) staffing model which has become “increasingly complex, with high minimum guaranteed hours; inflexible scheduling arrangements; and historic practices and benefits and allowances that are materially out of line with our competitors”.
What the Pick n Pay CEO omitted to inform the public is that the Company initiated and concluded a Flexibility and Multi-Skilling Agreement with SACCAWU to address staffing and flexible rostering of the workforce. The express intention of the Flexibility and Multi-Skilling Agreement was to ensure optimal staffing, with an agreed staffing ratio of 40% full-time workers to 60% Variable Time employees (VTEs). Also, built into the Agreement was for Stores to implement flexible staff scheduling between their primary jobs and secondary jobs.
The Company’s claim that Stores are overstaffed on weekends, and that it relies on part-time staff (VTEs) to work evenings and weekends is misleading, as all employees work a mandatory Saturday shift, while some already work on Sundays. The initial agreement between Pick n Pay and SACCAWU was to employ VTEs to fill in on shifts that falls outside the Conditions of Employment on which full-time employees were contracted.
Pick n Pay’s intention is to downgrade full time workers’ hard won negotiated conditions of employment and benefits, is a direct response to its inability to recapture its market share and to ameliorate its tanking share price.
Pick n Pay has been the most aggressive retailer at reducing its workforce, as it has initiated two retrenchment windows in 2020 and 2023, in which it offered Voluntary Retrenchments to reduce its labour costs. In addition, it also has been on a sustained programme of retrenchments and changing working conditions of full-time employees to variable time employees in loss making stores.
In its internal communication with management, the CEO claimed that SACCAWU does not want to negotiate on its intended reduction of workers’ conditions of employment, when it had not invited the SACCAWU, or presented proposal for negotiation. SACCAWU Secretariat honoured a meeting on 28 April, despite such date not being canvassed with us and in fact, the very same CEO has requested to meet the Secretariat Tuesday or Wednesday, and despite being short notice, the Union leadership has been considering this request and will honour Wednesday. The Company seeks to use the Section 189 CCMA referral it has made to coerce SACCAWU into agreeing to it taking away transport provided to workers whose shifts end after normal public transport schedules, withdraw subsidised meals offered to workers, cancel all legacy agreements with SACCAWU, withdraw the Sunday premium for full time workers, and scrapping the 13Th Cheque paid to workers.
While SACCAWU is open to engage any proposals made by Pick n Pay Management, it is not willing to allow the Company to embark on wholesale changes to the terms and conditions of employment it has negotiated over many years. Central to its current strategy is reducing the current guaranteed 196 working hours for full time workers, by converting them to Variable time employees who currently has a130 guaranteed working hours, with no benefits.
Issued by SACCAWU Secretariat
Jerry Mmoneri – Deputy General Secretary 0823369298
Lucas Ramatlhodi – Coordinator in the Secretariat 0823365325
Sithembele Tshwete – SACCAWU Media 0823365363