In a country where the official unemployment rate is a staggering 42.4%, the loss of a single job is a family crisis. So when major automotive retailer Motus moved to retrench over 80 employees during the Christmas period and slash the salaries of 900 more by up to 30%, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) didn’t just see a corporate restructuring. They saw a “heartless” attack that speaks to a deeper malaise in corporate South Africa.
“Whilst Motus’ management views these workers as mere statistics,” Cosatu stated, “these retrenchments and salary cuts are devastating news for these hardworking staff.” The federation minced no words, framing the timingover the festive seasonas a particularly cruel blow to workers supporting extended families amid a cost-of-living crisis.
The Profits Paradox
The core of Cosatu’s outrage lies in a stark contradiction. Retrenchments and deep wage cuts are typically survival measures for companies on the brink. Yet, as Cosatu points out, Motus reported a 1% growth in profits to R2.5 billion in its last financial year.
“This fails the test of logic,” the union argues. Instead of axing jobs, Cosatu suggests a more humane alternative: redeploying affected staff across the Motus group, where some franchises remain profitable. The move, they contend, reveals a priority for balance sheets over the lives that built the company.
A “Blatant Abuse” of Youth Programmes
Adding insult to injury, weeks after the December retrenchments, Motus advertised for young workers under the government’s Youth Employment Service (YES) programme. Cosatu calls this a “blatant abuse” of a progressive initiative designed to create entry-level opportunities.
“It beggars belief,” the statement reads, framing it as a cynical strategy to replace older, higher-earning staff with cheaper young interns, a practice Cosatu has long warned against.
The Apartheid Wage Gap in the Boardroom
The federation saved its fiercest criticism for the glaring inequality within the company. While junior staff face wage cuts, reports indicate the Motus CEO received a R35 million package last year.
“It is beyond shameful that the path to cutting expenses is sought by pickpocketing junior staff living paycheck to paycheck,” Cosatu declared, linking the issue to the persistent “apartheid wage gap” rampant across South African corporates.
The PIC and a Call for Ethical Investment
A critical new front in this battle involves the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), the state-owned asset manager that invests pension and other social funds on behalf of public sector workers. As Motus’s largest shareholder, Cosatu insists the PIC has a duty to intervene.
“Workers’ funds cannot be used to pay CEOs massive packages whilst sending poorly paid junior staff to the unemployment queue,” they asserted, vowing to have an “urgent and frank conversation” with the PIC to enforce ethical investment standards that protect jobs.
The Road Ahead: A Fight Workers “Must Win”
Cosatu has pledged to ramp up support for the affected workers and their unionsMISA, NUMSA, and NUM. They demand Motus return to the bargaining table in good faith to find alternatives, as mandated by the Labour Relations Act.
The fight at Motus, for Cosatu, is a microcosm of a larger struggle. It’s a fight for the soul of South Africa’s economy: whether it will be one that shares prosperity and respects the dignity of labour, or one where profit margins are endlessly prioritised over the people who create them. This, Cosatu insists, is a fight workers cannot afford to lose.
