Massmart now has 384 operational stores in 12 African countries. As a subsidiary of the retail giant Walmart it is part of a network of 10 524 operations around the world. The Massmart / Walmart head office is in Johannesburg and it is listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE), including the JSE SRI Index in South Africa. Although the bulk of its operations remain in South Africa it is growing fast in African countries, growth which is predicted to increase in speed with the financial and strategic backing of Walmart. Its annual turnover for the year to June 2012 was R61 billion, climbing from R53 billion in 2011; a similar rise in profit saw the company net R1.8 billion in PBT in 2012.
Massmart is Walmart’s foothold in Africa. It is the African continent, with its apparently growing consumer class, that is the prize. As was noted by an economist during the buy-out talks, “Wal-Mart only wants to use South Africa as a gateway to Africa and they can afford to comply with our strict labour laws because in other African countries the laws are much more relaxed.”
Apart from concerns over its supply chain strategies, which are beyond the scope of our work here, Walmart is notorious for its stance against organised labour and its union bashing tactics in the United States of America in particular. It is deeply concerning that such a company is seeking to grow its model on the African continent.
It is no surprise therefore that the unions in the retail sector are trying to find ways to work together on the continent and also more broadly with unions globally who are trying to organise in Walmart operations. As Massmart/Walmart sets up to drive more deeply into Africa, it is essential that labour rights, good corporate governance and social responsibility move with it. Unions that have members working in Massmart/Walmart have joined together as affiliates of UNI Global Union to form an alliance to engage with the company towards this end. At the launch meeting of the UNI Africa Walmart Union Alliance in June 2012 unions organising in Massmart/Walmart operations across Africa set themselves the challenge of demanding that Massmart/Walmart sign a Global Framework Agreement with UNI Global Union which guarantees all Massmart/Walmart workers the right to organise for a better life (See Appendix 13). The process of a campaign for a Global Framework Agreement is key in signalling to Massmart/Walmart that they are no longer going to simply be able to bypass South African labour laws but that all workers in Africa are working towards the goal of decent work.
The process is in the early stages and key to unions engaging with Massmart/Walmart is an understanding of the company, its management structure and style, financial performance and attitude to unions. It is also important to know about the unions organising within the company, their density, challenges and victories to successfully draw on these in the campaign for a Global Agreement. The research described here begins the process of exploring both the company and the unions organising therein.
This report outlines the results of the research and identifies the key issues that emerged during the research process. It also makes recommendations for building solidarity between unions on the continent organising in Massmart/Walmart. While the research and the report do deal with the issues raised by the Walmart takeover, it is not the focus of the work which remains that of supporting workers organising in multinational companies in Africa.
Tags: Massmart, Walmart, Africa, South Africa, trade union movement, retail, workers’ rights, freedom of association, global framework agreement
