TM Pick N Pay job cuts will not affect Zim
TM Pick N Pay Zimbabwe says the 3 500 job cuts from South Africa’s Pick N Pay retail giant will not affect Zimbabwean operations.
Pick N Pay South Africa is cutting jobs after the retailer flagged down stagnant profits.
The move came amid reports that TM Pick N Pay Zimbabwe may not renew contracts of its workers, which have been renewed more than five times.
Speaking to NewsDay over the phone, TM Pick N Pay Zimbabwe managing director, Malcolm Mycroft said he had nothing to say about the job cuts in South Africa as he was only a representative of the company in Zimbabwe.
“It (South Africa Pick N Pay job cuts) has nothing to with Zimbabwe at this time. It does not include Zimbabwe. It is a partnership between TM and Pick N Pay South Africa but Pick N Pay South Africa operations do not affect the running of this business at all,” he said.
He said as of now that they were not expecting any job cuts in Zimbabwe.
Pick N Pay South Africa has a 49% stake in TM supermarkets operating in the country together under the banner TM Pick N Pay and has since grown to a large retailer in the country.
The relationship with Pick ‘n’ Pay has helped enhance the sharing of technical expertise and sourcing of product brands from South Africa for the TM supermarkets.
In April, the Pick N Pay group reported that its share in TM’s earnings grew 71,8%, in terms of the United States dollar, to about $6,08 million.
TM supermarkets have 56 stores in Zimbabwe, while it was reported they have 16 trading under the Pick N Pay brand.
The parent company for TM supermarkets, Meikles Limited, recorded a 5% growth to $414 million for the financial year ending March 31 2017 from $395,29 million in the previous timeframe.
National Employment Council for the Commercial Sectors of Zimbabwe general secretary, Noah Chanda said in the event any retailer sacked their employees those employees could approach their council.
“They can approach the NEC that is our job to look at whether the termination of the employment contract was done properly or not. They will come and report to us and we will investigate,” he said.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers president, Denford Mutashu said he did not expect large retail job cuts within the sector for the year.
BY TATIRA ZWINOIRA
