South African retailer Metcash Trading is gearing up to close 51 of its 138 cash and carry and Trade Centre outlets in a bid to improve its financial performance, the SA Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers’ Union has suggested.
A spokesperson for the union told just-food today (22 March) that it anticipates the closures to be announced in the “near future” and insisted that the closures were a consequence of current “financial difficulties” that Metcash is experiencing.
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“We do not yet know how many jobs will be lost but we expect the figure to be high,” the spokesperson said. “When 13 outlets were closed last year, 500 jobs went.”
The spokesperson declined to comment on whether the union was planning to take actoin to try and prevent the expected closures.
For its part, Metcash declined to comment on the possibility of closures or its financial position.
Earlier this month, Metcash announced that it would sell its franchise business to Shoprite Checkers as it looks to “rationalise” the business.
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