Dis-Chem's management has obtained a Labour Court interdict to stop striking members of the SA Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu) from harassing other employees and customers at the group's stores.
According to Saccawu spokesman Mike Abrahams, the strike, which is in its second week, arose as a result of Dis-Chem's refusal to negotiate with the union.
Abrahams said Saccawu was demanding a R3 500 minimum wage for workers, a 15 percent annual increase across the board, the conversion of casual staff to permanent after three months, a guaranteed 13th cheque, medical aid and other benefits.
Dis-Chem's human resources manager, Johan Osche, said the company paid "well above the minimum salary" and that its employees had received a 10 percent annual increase in March.
"The union started their demands after we gave our annual increases. Furthermore, the company does have other employee benefits such as 13th cheques," he said.
He said Saccawu's membership stood at 1 400 out of the company's 6 000 employees nationally but that the membership numbers "had dwindled substantially in the past year".
Abrahams claims that nearly 2 000 members have been participating in the strike but Osche said the number was only between 400 and 500.
The union said store managers had been harassing and assaulting striking workers on the picket line, trying to remove them out of sight of the affected stores.
But Osche said the company was communicating with the union and trying to get it to "stop intimidating other workers and members of the public".
"They are violating the picketing rules and therefore we have gained an interdict."
Osche said Saccawu was a minority union within the company. "The law does not prescribe that we have to negotiate with the union on any of their demands," he said.
Brendan Guy, a labour attorney and a director at Maserumule Attorneys, said case law studies showed that unions needed "more or less 30 percent representation" but that this did not compel Dis-Chem to negotiate with them on any terms.
Abrahams said there were ongoing attempts throughout the wholesale and retail sector that showed some companies were trying to weaken the trade union movement.
Trade union Solidarity said yesterday that companies had been extremely stubborn this year when it came to wage negotiations. It said it had stressed that no wage increase below the inflation level would be accepted this year.
Inflation as a guideline for wage increases "has lost its value to some degree because it no longer really reflects the spending patterns of most employees", Solidarity said. - Additional reporting by Sapa