Illegal chicken dumping into SA leads to job cuts

MORE than 1 000 people faced the impact of the cutbacks at an RCL Foods chicken plant in Hammarsdale as a result of illegal dumping of chicken in South Africa by EU countries.

Bosses of the three largest chicken producing companies and workers united and marched to deliver a protest note to the EU delegation in Pretoria on Wednesday, 1 February. The march took place on the day that 1 350 former employees found themselves without jobs because of the illegal dumping. The march was led by the Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU), which has called for an immediate end to EU dumping in South Africa.

“The job losses highlight that dumping is putting at risk an industry with 110 000 direct and indirect workers, and a further 20 000 jobs in the related grains industry,” said Scott Pitman, the MD of RCL Foods consumer division.

RCL Foods redeployed 300 of its workers but has warned that more jobs may be cut if the situation does not improve.

“This is the start of the 2017 cutbacks and job losses caused by illegal dumping of chicken. Other chicken producers have planned or announced curtailments in response to massive amounts of dumped chicken flooding into the South African market,” he said.

According to a statement released by RCL Foods, EU countries are responsible for 80 per cent of the chicken bone-in pieces dumped illegally in South Africa. “It is these imports that are forcing cut backs and job losses in the local industry,” said Pitman.

“The leg quarters from the EU and elsewhere are surplus offcuts, often sold as waste, because of a preference in northern hemisphere markets for breast meat and chicken wings. The surplus is sold below the cost of production which is how the World Trade Organisation defines dumping,” he added.

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