Featherbed staff accept package

Update

KNYSNA NEWS - After a group of aggrieved Featherbed Co employees threatened to shut down the company two weeks ago, an agreement has finally been reached between the parties after a series of what are reported as constructive negotiations.

The winter months in the Cape are already tough for anyone, but they looked to become slightly tougher for a group of Featherbed employees when on 30 May they received a notification of the company's intention to retrench about 68 employees due to "financial difficulties" that the company is facing.

The employees were under the impression that they had been unfairly dismissed, however Featherbed CEO Ronnie Webster explained prior to the protest that they were still on the company's payroll, effectively still making them employees of the company.

Despite Webster's clarification of the situation, the employees embarked on a protest against the manner in which the retrenchment process was carried out, to try to get their message across to the company, and on 7 June a group of workers took to the streets in an organised march from Grey Street (near the taxi rank), to Featherbed along Remembrance Avenue.

The protesters began the march at 08:00 and reached Featherbed within an hour, where they picketed through the morning until noon, when they handed over their memorandum to Webster.

The document conveyed their grievances, while also expressing their wish for a severance package from the company which they deemed "sufficient" to compensate for the loss of income their retrenchments would incur in the coming months. Despite the employees stating that they would not engage in meetings or negotiations after the protest, Webster confirmed that the parties met that afternoon.

In the week that followed the protest (last week), employees as well as their representatives engaged in what proved to be fruitful meetings and negotiations with Webster and Featherbed Co, helping put the matter to bed. Both Webster and employee representative Siyabulela Kolanisi confirmed that they had agreed on a severance package which both parties were happy with.

According to the letter which the employees received on 30 May, the reasons for the company's need to retrench came about due to a downturn in tourism as well as the long-term financial impact of the 2017 fires in which a large part of the Featherbed Nature Reserve was destroyed.

Employee representative Siyabulela Kolanisi hands over the employees' memorandum to Featherbed CEO Ronnie Webster. Photo: Blake Linder