Festive Chicken wage talks deadlock as Olifantsfontein strike continues
Workers are seeking higher pay, medical aid and protective equipment. The company says the demands are unaffordable.
Wage talks at Festive Chicken's Olifantsfontein plant have deadlocked as workers continue a strike that has lasted about two weeks.
An eNCA report published on Tuesday morning says workers are demanding a monthly salary of R13,500, medical aid and adequate personal protective equipment.
Workers also allege that the company does not accept sick notes from public clinics, leaving them to pay for private consultations. This is a workers' claim, not an independently established company policy.
In its response reported by the broadcaster, Festive Chicken said the demands were financially unaffordable. It also said it did not recognise the Simunye Workers Forum, which represents the strikers, and that two recognised unions together represented most employees.
The forum's Joshua Hlunwani said workers would continue protesting until an agreement was reached.
The report concerns the existing dispute at Olifantsfontein. It does not establish a settlement, the start of a new strike or nationwide production or supply effects.
Contextual archive photograph of chicken breasts and wings at a butcher in Aksaray, Istanbul, taken on 11 January 2021; not Festive Chicken products, its plant or strike activity. Photo: Harald the Bard / Wikimedia Commons, CC0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chicken_breasts_and_wing_quarters.jpg . Rights: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ . Cropped and resized for display.