SA’s union-in-chief has threatened strike action against the US retail giant before a single Walmart brick has been laid. That’s the way we do it here, Yanks. You don’t come to our country with your big ass shops and just put them up everywhere. We have rules. And Cosatu.
Cosatu general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said Walmart must commit to respecting our Constitution and even wants the Americans to source everything they sell locally. That last one could be a stretch. Walmart said they would respect South African laws and their own “existing union contracts”.
I would trash those contracts and meet with Cosatu with some pens and paper if I were Walmart. But I’m not, and Walmart hasn’t met Zwelinzima Vavi yet, so Godspeed to them.
I for one would welcome a little cultural hegemony. I haven’t had a good consumerist binge in a while now. I’ll be first in line for a Reese’s Pieces.
Rolling mass action on aisle five.
