The South African Commercial Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu) said on Wednesday that employees who were retrenched by Woolworths for not accepting the terms of the conversion to flexitime in 2012 must be reinstated. Khulekani Ngubane, head of the organising campaign’s collective bargaining unit at Saccawu, said that Woolworths had been the test case for the retail sector in the campaign to switch workers from full-time status to flexitime. "After our initial victory at the Labour Court, they started making things difficult for the union in the work place," said Ngubane, who described the Constitutional Court’s hearing as a fight for a matter of principle. Kirsten Hewett, a spokeswoman for Woolworths, said the changes had to be made to meet the requirements of modern trading patterns. "As a values-based organisation, Woolworths is committed to fair labour practices and will respect the direction given by the courts." On Tuesday, the Constitu-tional Court reserved judgment ...
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