Negotiator says BEE plan to sell supermarkets will make rich richer
Unions to fight Pick 'n Pay franchising of Score stores
June 26, 2007
By Tom Robbins
Cape Town - Trade union representatives will today formally oppose a black economic empowerment (BEE) plan to franchise supermarkets in Pick 'n Pay Stores' loss making Score chain.
The retailer said it intended to rebrand and franchise a significant number of outlets in the 127-store Score chain as part of a plan to create opportunities for black entrepreneurs. Under the plan, the supermarkets will be renamed Pick 'n Pay Family Stores.
But today the SA Commercial, Catering & Allied Workers' Union (Saccawu) will make a submission before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration asking that staff conditions of employment remain the same as they are under Score.
Saccawu negotiating co-ordinator Khulekani Ngubane said staff at franchised stores, or Family Stores, were paid less than at Score.
On top of this, Ngubane said the plan to sell supermarkets to black franchisees would only "make the rich richer".
But when asked who these already wealthy potential franchisees were, Ngubane said he did not have any names.
Previously, Frans van der Colf, the general manager of Pick 'n Pay Stores' franchise division, said small business people from townships would be selected to own stores.
The retailer's own market research shows that the middle to bottom end of the market has a strong affinity for the Pick 'n Pay brand.
Analysts have called on the supermarket group to switch to the stronger Pick 'n Pay brand and have said that in the post-apartheid era there was no need to have a separate township supermarket brand.
Earlier this year, the Score supermarket group reversed a tax asset of as much as R46.4 million at Score, after five years of losses.
Pick 'n Pay Stores has a staff share ownership scheme for more than 10 000 employees, but has focused most on the enterprise development aspect of black empowerment.
While Pick 'n Pay has said that a significant number of the Score stores would be rebranded, it has not revealed what will become of the balance of the outlets.
Apart from the Score and Pick 'n Pay brands, the retailer has the profitable Boxer brand targeted at the bottom end of the market.
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