Aspen delays retrenchment process until after lockdown

The coronavirus has given more than 100 Aspen Pharmacare workers a temporary reprieve as the giant pharmaceutical company has stopped the retrenchment process — for now.

While workers at the East London and Port Elizabeth plants welcomed the decision to freeze the process, they described this as a bittersweet victory, saying they still did not know whether they would have jobs after the lockdown ends.

However, in a letter to staff members, dated March 26, which DispatchLIVE has seen, Aspen executive Grant Swart was clear that the workers would still lose their jobs after the national lockdown.

“Considering the national lockdown, our company is pausing the implementation plan effective Friday March 27 until April 17.

“The pause is important to provide affected employees with stability and social security during this challenging period.”

In the meantime, said Swart, “we are accelerating the process of filling critical positions necessary to sustain our operations during this rapidly changing period, so that we can supply the medicines needed to mitigate the pandemic”.

He said the company's employee wellness programme was active and accessible to employees and their dependents during the lockdown period.

An employee, who spoke on conditions of anonymity for fear of reprisals, told DispatchLIVE the news left them with mixed feelings.

“We don't know if we should call this a victory or not. We are sad we are losing our jobs but we are smiling because the process has been put on hold.

“The postponement of the process means extra earnings for three weeks, but what will happen beyond that? The retrenchments should have been postponed indefinitely as most people believe this virus is not going anywhere in the foreseeable future,” he said.  

The company claims the reason for the retrenchments was that the company had embarked on a transformation journey to transition its SA manufacturing operations into a globally competitive, technologically advanced and sustainable business, enabling it to access a number of niche therapeutic areas.

The retrenchment letters were first issued to the affected employees on December 9. Subsequently there was a meeting on January 14 with the unions in question, before a consultation with CCMA on February 5. The retrenchment talks were concluded on March 6.

The initial proposed number of retrenchments was 219 before February 5, but the numbers went down to fewer than 130 due to some employees resigning and others taking voluntary retrenchments. Thirty of the workers set to be retrenched are in East London.

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