[The Pick ‘n Pay strike which started last week is still going on. 20,000 workers downed tools. They arrested 50 for various disruptions. However, it was reported that in at least 2 stores, the workers went in and started smashing up the shops. There were also instances where they went after customers who had been shopping.

The ANC and the Communists taught the Trade Unions all about violence, and even now, it is used when it suits them. Jan]

Noisy protesters chanted and toyi-toyied outside the Cape Town magistrate’s court on Monday during the court appearance of 50 Pick ‘n Pay employees arrested over the weekend at the Sea Point store.

The employees were arrested for defying an interdict preventing them from entering the store as part of their ongoing strike action.

Proceedings at both the magistrate’s court and the Cape Town regional court, across the road, were disrupted.

The 50 arrested people were divided into groups for the appearance before magistrate Herman van der Merwe, who explained their rights and warned them to appear in court again on August 29.

Each of the arrested men and women elected to appoint privately funded lawyers.

They face charges of contravening a court order.

On Monday police had to intervene at several Gauteng stores where striking workers, in defiance of the court interdict, forced their way onto the shop floor and forcibly tried to close the stores.

Pick ‘n Pay management reacted angrily to these incidents, saying the strike action at the majority of stores was peaceful.

On Monday afternoon the company and the South African Commercial Catering and Allied Workers Union were meeting the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) in Johannesburg to decide on rules for picketing at stores.

Renewed negotiations about a wage settlement was expected to take place on Wednesday facilitated by the CCMA. – Sapa

Source: Independent Online (IOL)
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click…/p>