The resignation of Pick 'n Pay CEO - a view from labour

Since the announcement of the resignation of Pick 'n Pay Chief Executive Officer, Nick Badminton, statements from Pick 'n Pay and other commentators seem to uncritically celebrate the role Nick has played in re-engineering, re-branding and re-positioning of the group in a changing economic and retail landscape.

We must also hasten to point out that attributes to Nick's major achievement as that of concluding an agreement dealing with Labour; vindicates SACCAWU on its strong held views presented on numerous occasions in meetings that the new leadership under Nick is not by any stretch the imagination focussed on growing business, but more preoccupied on how to break the union's back which in his and his colleagues views had been allowed too much space.

It is this lack of focus on business that saw Pick ‘n Pay under Nick leadership grafting from number one retail to number three; losing market share to Shop rite Checkers and Woolworths with great potential for Spar as well as Walmart -Massmart to do likewise. This attribution further exposes either naivety or partnership and collusion by whomever this utterance is said to be from.

But what did his stint at the head of Pick 'n Pay really mean for labour or even the company for that matter?

Nick came to Pick 'n Pay straight from school thirty-two years and rose through the ranks to become head of the Western Cape and in 2007 CEO, so his story is told.

That time when he finished school was the time of the 1980s, a time of national schools boycott that started on the Cape Flats and spread throughout the country. A time of industrial strikes, consumer boycots, defiance campaigns and general strikes. It was a time of events that set the stage for the emergence of new national movements.

Youth, student, civic, women and labour organisations rapidly became national movements in the form of SAYCO, COSAS, SASCO, SANCO, UWCO, COSATU, UDF and many other movements. It was a time when workers and students, youth and women, old and young, in their millions kept their eye on liberating our country from apartheid and its brutality.

It was a time when tens of thousands of other young people also left school, many entered Pick 'n Pay and other retailers, many joined SACCAWU (then CCAWUSA) and became shopstewards later, with some still in SACCAWU today as shopstewards.

It was also a time when SACCAWU asserted itself as the real voice of the workers and it was at Pick 'n Pay while Nick was surely still very low on the corporate ladder at the height of the era when SACCAWU led struggles in Pick 'n Pay and in the retail, wholesale and related trades/sectors in general; in defense of Union rights, human rights, worker rights and improvements in the contracts, conditions, wages and other benefits for workers.

It was at Pick 'n Pay when we are sure Nick was still a lowly branch voice somewhere buried in the Pick 'n Pay corporate structure when SACCAWU won the ground breaking parental rights agreement that became the benchmark not only for the sector but for Unions in general. This was not presented on a silver platter rather afer relentless struggles and intensive break of chauvinistic stereotypes that resisted our view that -"workers are parents too, with children being the workers of tomorrow". Whilst resisting the temptation of exposing such stereotypes it might be prudent to reflect on some ot the extremes at the time, like - "the company has not impregnated such women - we are here to generate business and not children and no charity case" - is but some cases in point depicted by the then white supremacy and chauvinism prevalent within the sector.

And Nick lived through this and grew in the ranks, climbing the corporate ladder. Along the way Nick was accused of racism by workers in the Western Cape and in the course of things he became CEO. In fact, at the time he was a General Manager for Western Cape, the province was embroiled in an avalanche of labour disputes and sporadic but frequent industrial actions; forcing at one point the SACCAWU national leadership and counterparts from Pick ‘n Pay having to go down to Cape Town; engaged in very intensive deliberations that until he became the CEO, resolved such industrial relations turmoil.

By the time Nick became CEO, things have changed dramatically in the country, we had destroyed Apartheid and a new democratic dispensation was ushered in; and SACCAWU and workers in Pick 'n Pay played no small role in realising this.

By the time Nick became the CEO Walmart was already sniffing around the world to extend its tentacles into areas they have not as yet plundered. By the time Nick became the CEO the global economy was curving downwards, curving away from people's needs, curving relentlessly towards the most naked exploitation of labour across the world. By this time we had serious economic crisis and recession setting in.

Things were not going too well for many in the circles where profit trumps people and shareholders' interests trump workers rights. It was a time where the big swallowed up the small, just to survive. And through all this it was the poor, the working class, the aged, the youth, the women, the vulnerable that were trampled upon as every Nick and his friend throughout the economy were re-negineering and re-positioning themselves in that search for profit and improving shareholder value. And that was the job of Nick the CEO.

Under Badminton, Pick 'n Pay embarked on a radical and costly re- positioning period. Rebranding at the tune a of more than R110 million just for changing the logo. By August 2009 SAP (re-engineering) program was at an advance stage, 65% of this rebranding/restructuring and work reorganisation was completed at the cost of R440 million with a further R86 million to be spent.

Under Badminton, workers suddenly were thrown in tail-spin and became the first target for cost cutting measure as they literally are regarded as a liability and profit generating tool instead of an asset part of the broader family as their PR claim. Workers could not understand why a management with whom the Union by industry standards had a very healthy relationship, suddenly became so hostile that it continuously drove the Union to declare several disputes, threatened and embarked on industrial action on issues which in the past would have as a matter of course been resolved.

It was Nick's job.

We knew, big retail knew, many observers knew, Pick 'n Pay knew and Nick knew, that Walmart was coming. The job of Nick was simple; make Pick 'n Pay compete with Walmart on Walmart's terms. And so if you look at the term of Nick you would see that in the SAP exercise the objectives include amongst others, lower labour costs and supply chain efficiency increase, not very different from the language and practice of Walmart. Will all this restore Pick 'n Pay to the number one retail position in the country we'll have to wait and see, but our guess is, not likely.

And so under Nick, Pick 'n Pay went from International Retailer of the year in 2009, dropping to below two other competitors in the national market by 2011. And reasonable increases were denied and retrenchments were the gun held against the head of workers if they do not except increased labour flexibilisation. And the onslaught on SACCAWU was relentless and today Nick is exhausted and is retiring from Pick 'n Pay, but SACCAWU is still there, on the shop floor, battered, brusied and perhaps bloodied, but still there fighting, resolute and ready to change the trend of Walmartisation ushered into Pick 'n Pay under the helm of Nick Badminton the now retiring CEO.

Issued by SACCAWU, February 15 2012

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