Earlier this week, Dis-Chem stood by its transformation plan despite withdrawing the “poorly worded” original memorandum sent to staff.
Cape Town - While trade union Solidarity forges ahead with its litigation against Dis-Chem over their moratorium on employment and promotion of whites across all levels, the pharmaceutical giant has received the backing of the Department of Labour’s Commission for Employment Equity (CEE), which said its transformation plan was compliant.
“We should also concede that the elimination of unfair discrimination alone will not remedy this, but policies, programmes and other positive actions such as affirmative action, which are designed to redress the imbalances of the past are therefore needed,” said CEE chairperson Tabea Kabinde.
Earlier this week, Dis-Chem stood by its transformation plan despite withdrawing the “poorly worded” original memorandum sent to staff.
A moratorium on external and internal appointments and promotion of white individuals remained in place.
Kabinde said the message communicated in the now-retracted memorandum could be seen as malicious compliance.
“The Dis- Chem memorandum has caused much debate in society on whether the actions of the CEO were just or not. While he was dealing with compliance in terms of demographic representation, and has correctly applied the Sections ( Section 5 and 13 of the Employment Equity Act) mentioned above, we note that the memorandum does not position EE and transformation as a business imperative embedded in the business strategy. It therefore, may be perceived to be malicious compliance.
“The Memorandum dealt with EE as a subject for chasing numbers instead of fully embracing the spirit and the letter of law.
“The response by the board, on the other hand, seems to align EE to the values and ethos of the organisation, which is critical.
“The malicious compliance is one of the reasons for the tabling of the Amendment Bill of the EEA. The EE Amendment Bill is still to be signed into law by the President and we wait eagerly for this,” said Kabinde.
Dis-Chem spokesperson Colette McRobert, said: “Dis-Chem has confirmed that the matter is currently subject to litigation. It will continue to strive to comply with the spirit of the constitution and other applicable legislation.”
Solidarity spokesperson Morné Malan said they were of the firm conviction that it cannot be the position of Dis-chem Pharmacies, or any organisation, that it stands by such a memorandum while at the same time it is asserting that it is acting in compliance with the requirements of the EEA.
“Solidarity has earlier this week issued a letter to both Dis-chem as well as their attorneys providing Dis-Chem with the following options in response:
Dis-chem Pharmacies is invited to respond to this correspondence by indicating the manner in which it contends that the continued moratorium on the appointment or promotion of white employees, can be said to be consistent with the requirements of the EEA (directly, and as interpreted by the Constitutional Court). Alternatively, if it is not correct, that Dis-Chem Pharmacies stands by its decision to implement the moratorium, Dis-Chem Pharmacies is invited to issue a public statement in that regard, together with a public apology.”
Secretary for the Black Business Chamber, Mntuwekhaya Cishe, said while the approach by Dis-Chem might have had “some errors”, it was done with good intention. “It is something that all the other companies must emulate and it is good that the labour department has provided more information on what needs to be done. Let alone the wording that Dis-Chem used, it must be the right intention. They want to address the inequalities in the workplace.
“The economy should be a balanced one and individuals should work towards becoming a balanced economy.
At the moment it is still tilted to a particular side. We are calling on the labour department to do what they have been set up to do to ensure that all companies become compliant with EE,” said Cishe.
Cape Times
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