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Ihsaan Haffejee
Aziz Hartley
WOOLWORTHS remained unmoved over its job adverts for black, Indian or coloured applicants only, despite a public campaign trade union Solidarity started against the firm.
Solidarity on Tuesday gave Woolworths until noon yesterday to withdraw its advertisements for vacancies open for either black, coloured and Indian applicants.
Woolworths national employee relations manager Mark van Buuren said it had no intention to accede to Solidarity’s demand. He said employers had a responsibility to transform workplaces and Woolworths believed its business should meet employment equity requirements.
Noting Solidarity’s plan to launch a campaign, he wrote: “We are of the view that this is unwarranted and wrong. Our rights are reserved.”
Solidarity deputy general secretary Dirk Herman said its campaign had been set up online. “People are very angry. Their message to Woolworths is that what it is doing is unacceptable.”
The Solidarity campaign trended on Twitter yesterday. Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State Jonathan Jansen tweeted: “Who is managing Woolworths. One public relations disaster after another.” City Press editor Ferial Haffajee tweeted: “I thought employment equity was in our constitution. Or did I read wrong?”
Chief operating officer Sam Ngumeni said Woolworths was “committed to transformation and the spirit of diversity in this country”.
aziz.hartley@inl.co.za
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