NEW BUSINESS MODEL
RCL’s new business model leads to 1,350 job losses at its KwaZulu-Natal plant
The new model RCL Foods will be using from Wednesday will effectively reduce the two-shifts system into a single one at the Hammarsdale plant
The job losses at poultry processor RCL Foods follow the adoption of a new business model that comes into effect on Wednesday. The new model will effectively reduce the two-shifts system into a single one at the Hammarsdale plant in KwaZulu-Natal, resulting in the loss of 1,350 job out of a staff complement of just more than 2,700 workers there. More than 200 workers have been placed in RCL’s other operations in the province. RCL Foods — formerly Rainbow Chickens — is among the country’s largest chicken producers. It is feeling the effect of cheap chicken imports streaming into the local market. Most of the retrenched workers were laid off on Friday and some were due to report for work for the last time on Tuesday, just hours before the new model takes effect. In a move aimed at easing the hardship of the retrenched workers, RCL Foods, government officials and trade union federation Cosatu and its affiliate the Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu) met in Hammarsdale’s Mpumalanga tow...
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