Striking employees return to work after Rainbow Chicken recognises union

Workers are celebrating as Rainbow Chicken agreed to recognise their union at its processing plant in Hammarsdale, KwaZulu-Natal, following several days of striking.

Members of the Agriculture, Food & Allied Democratic Workers Union (AFADWU) has been on strike since December 6, saying that their organisational rights had been unlawfully terminated by Rainbow Chicken.

An agreement to give the union rights to organise was reached on Monday and workers are returning to work.

The union represents almost 500 workers at the plant working in all departments. Rainbow Chicken, part of RCL Foods, terminated the union’s right to organise at the plant earlier in 2023. In May, the union took the matter to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), which issued a certificate to strike.

Rainbow Chicken approached the labour court to interdict the strike but this application was dismissed. Union members downed tools on 6 December.

AFADWU provincial secretary Joe Brown told GroundUp the union recognition had been withdrawn because it did not meet a national 30% representation threshold, despite being the majority union at the Hammarsdale facility.

In a statement issued on December 8, the union said it wishes “to negotiate within the confines of the law, seeking only the rightful space to represent the interests and protect the fundamental rights of our members”.

After the agreement was reached, Brown said, “This is a great victory for AFADWU, which will pave a way for other incoming unions that want to organise at Rainbow Chicken.”

On December 8, Cosatu, to which AFADWU is affiliated, called Rainbow Chicken’s withdrawal of the union’s rights a “brazen undermining of labour rights, collective bargaining and freedom of choice, affording every employee the right to representation and to join unions of their choice”.

Rainbow Chicken said AFADWU “was demanding recognition/organisational rights, despite them not meeting the required minimum threshold”. The company said it has a national recognition agreement with two unions, Food and Allied Workers Union and the National Union of Food, Beverage, Wine, Spirit and Allied Workers.

“Following extensive discussions with AFADWU over the last few days, we reached a settlement [on] ... 11 December, and the strike action has officially been called off. All striking employees will be back at work today. Rainbow Chicken maintained production volumes during this time,” the company said.

GroundUp