CWAO IN THE NEWS
Striking Heineken Workers to demonstrate outside department of Trade and Indusry in Netherlands
29/11/2018
Publication: CWAO
Author: CWAO Press Writer
Heineken made $1.61 billion in profits last year but it refuses to recognize its workers in South Africa who continue to live in extreme poverty and in fear of victimization when they fight for their rights.
For years the Heineken South Africa brewery in Sedibeng has employed workers through labour brokers. Until recently, workers would take home as little as R24 for a 12-hour shift on certain days. This earned Heineken comparisons on social media to the Dutch East India Company which brought slavery to South Africa in the 1600s.
The workers employed under labour brokers sort empty bottles day-and-night in the cold, the rain and the hot sun. Some women have suffered miscarriages due to the hard labour and their lack of access to health insurance or other benefits.
Legislation introduced in 2015 meant that hundreds of these workers were supposed to be made permanent workers of Heineken with the same wages and conditions as Heineken’s other permanent workers.
But the Dutch multi-national is evading its responsibilities by claiming it does not know the workers who have toiled for its profits for years. Workers that stand up for their rights have been victimized. In recent months 2 worker leaders have been dismissed and many more suspended.
The Heineken Workers Council demands that Heineken stop perpetuating the apartheid system of cheap black labour and fulfill its obligations to make the workers permanent and pay them a living wage.
WORKERS EMBARKED ON AN UNPROTECTED STRIKE LAST WEEK
Over the last 2 months the workers have gone through all the legal duties to go on a protected strike. But Heineken and labour broker Imperial went to the Labour Court to get three different interdicts to stop the strike. Workers felt that their right to strike has been taken away by the courts. Last week they decided to embark on an unprotected strike which is ongoing.
WHY PROTEST AT THE DTI?
The Heinken workers are marching on the Department of Trade and Industry tomorrow to demand that the Dutch multinational have their operating license suspended due to gross human rights violations against its workers.
WHY THE NETHERLANDS EMBASSY?
Heineken workers will demand that the Dutch government bring their corporations into line South Africa’s labour legislation. Dutch companies have a long history of exploitation and slavery in South Africa, and it is time that their government intervene.
CONTACT WORKER REPRESENTATIVES
1. Gladys Thaane 078 7826 058
2. Mthuli Sibidli 073 4404 676
3. Aphiwe Mqele 076 0510 712