Workers at Robertson Winery have accused the company of not respecting an agreement signed in November last year to end a 14-week strike, but the company says it is complying fully with the agreement.
According to Commercial, Stevedoring and Allied Workers' Union deputy general secretary Karel Swart, the winery workers had expected that a backdated increase of R400 a month agreed to in the deal would cover the period of the strike, but it did not.
In addition, the workers had not received their full annual bonuses, he said.
One worker said his bonus was R1000 short of his full salary.
Swart said Robertson Winery had "misinterpreted" the agreement to mean that the period of the strike would be deducted from workers' bonuses and backdated wage increases.
He said this was deliberate because the winery had lawyers "with the necessary skills" to understand what "backdated pay means".
"The company wants to penalise workers for going on strike," he said.
But a former trade unionist said this was common practice in labour disputes, unless an agreement was explicitly reached where workers were paid for time they were on strike, something that seldom happened, he said.
Swart said workers had started a new strike in protest against what they saw as a contravention of the agreement and some had been disciplined as a result.
He said the union recommended that workers return to work while it took up the matter with lawyers.
A Robertson Winery spokesman said the company was "in full compliance" with the agreement.
She said no disciplinary action had been taken against any employee during the strike, but since employees had returned to work on November 28 there had been "consistent application of our code in all matters related to discipline". - TMG Digital/GroundUp
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