As will be seen from the next post the Minister’s understanding of the Employment Equity Act has been questioned. It is argued that the definition of ‘black people’ was only meant to be descriptive and not prescriptive in the sense of allowing people to be divided into the old racial categories. The report by Zeenat Moorad Labour minister hails Woolworths employment equity drive appeared for the first time in Business Day and BDlive a few days ago. The report states the Minister commended Woolworths, for its ‘unwavering effort to genuinely address transformation in the workplace through the implementation of employment equity’.
Courtesy of Business Day here are some random extracts from the report.
Ms Oliphant said it was important to highlight that the retailer was among the number of large designated employers listed on the JSE that are subject to the director-general review process in terms of sections 43-45 of the Employment Equity Act.
According to the minister, Woolworths had generally progressed well towards achieving race and gender equity in the workplace in terms of its own employment equity numerical targets set in its employment equity plan, a plan on which workers had been consulted and to which they had agreed.
Labour union Solidarity this week launched a campaign to boycott Woolworths after the retail giant ignored its deadline to remove advertisements the union claimed were racist towards white job seekers.
On Thursday, Woolworths CEO Ian Moir said the accusations against the company were “simply not true”.
“Woolworths does employ white people. We employ women and men of all races — white, black, coloured, Indian, as well as people with disabilities, and will continue to do so.
“We’re a passionately South African company, so diversity is important to us. So is offering fair career opportunities.
“There are some areas of our business where certain groups are seriously underrepresented. These are the positions where we actively look for qualified candidates from specific groups,” Mr Moir said.