South African Breweries – a subsidiary of Belgian beverages firm AB InBev — is planning to cut 500 jobs from its payroll due to “current economic conditions” in the country, the brewer announced on Thursday.
The company said the retrenchments were necessary in light of current economic conditions and the payroll reduction was in line with its merger conditions that the cuts be limited to specific workers in the brewery.
The proposed job cut would be the second retrenchment process in as many months for the group after it retrenched 33 people last year, according to the union.
Alarmed at the announcement, the Food and Allied Workers Union and the company have met for the first time with the labour relations mediator (the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration) to discuss the development.
The meeting is part of the two sides’ efforts to identify a solution to stop the job cuts in a country that is reeling from high unemployment, the union said.
The announcement of the pending job cuts come a day after data from Statistics South Africa showed an increasing trend in job losses over the years.
NM/jn/APA