Threats To Boycott Woolworths!

[Justloadit]

With the continuation of the deterioration of our schools, there will never be sufficient learned students from the majority of our population to take up the managerial positions that are available.

You have to have the education and be proficient in management skills to be chosen and manage these positions. The continuation of the ANCYL and even members of the ANC, blaming the whites as always being in power, or have the money is to de-focus the population from the true reason of failure of the present elected government for not being able to fulfill these positions.

had the elected government taken education as a priority when it went into power, then lets say that a 13 year old learner at the 1994 milestone, would have started in the secondary education cycle, and by age 18 was ready for tertiary education, the leaner would have been sufficiently educated to enter into the managerial market as a freshmen by age 22. This would have been some where around 2003. By the time the learner reached 30, he would be ready for senior management, around 2010.

However with the collapse of the education system, highlighted by the non delivery of text books in the Limpopo province, only exacerbates the lack of educated young adults of the majority of South Africa for years to come, in fact decades from now.

Standing on a soap box, and making racist remarks that the whites are in control, simply shows that the current elected government have failed their electorate, and that it is so much easier to resurrect the racist remarks that we hear on a daily basis.

[adrianh]

I see on ETV tonight that we are ranked no 140 out of 144 countries in terms of quality of education. We are on parr with Libya....

So its the whites fault that my daugher is now taught rubbish at school...okey dokey...

[Dave A]

Forget racial discrimination in employment practices for a moment. Is it true that 97% of Woolworths customers are white?

[IanF]

In the Woolworths stores I go to, when I am feeling rich it seem more like a 30/70 split. But I don't go that often.

[ians]

Forget racial discrimination in employment practices for a moment. Is it true that 97% of Woolworths customers are white?

Look at it this way, woolworths has no white staff visible in any of the stores i visit ( i visit 3 different stores depending on where i am working), and the number of white customers is normally the majority, i would say a ratio of customers, 10 white to 1 other being indian, black or coloured. Something to consider i only visit during the day, so i dont know what the ratio is in the afternoon or weekends. I think it depends on the store and time of day.

[Dave A]

I'm always suspicious when hard numbers get presented as fact when they're not supported by hard evidence. But I expect we can agree that anecdotal evidence strongly suggest the vast majority of Woolworths clients are white.

From there my internal line of questioning went along the lines of "what does this tell us, and about whom?"
Sign of an unbalanced society? Yes.

And that's where the easy questions and answers stop - and where most people's thinking seems to stop too. Here are some tougher questions:

Sign of something that Woolies is doing wrong in their market positioning?
Does something need to be done to make this imbalance more racially representative of the general populace?
If yes, what should one do to correct this imbalance?

Now on that last one, if we were to take the EE approach, we should promulgate a law that only allows two white people in the door for every 8 black people through the door.

Will it fix the numbers? Yes.
Will it fix the problem? I suggest your answer to that depends who you are.
Is it the right way to go to normalise the numbers?


The problem (racial number ratios) is not the problem - it's a symptom of the real problem.

Does attacking the ratios directly solve the underlying problem if you don't do anything to cure the underlying problem?

If the underlying problem is the unequal distribution of means (read earnings) to enable equal access to discretionary choice, shopper quotas will fix the symptom - it does nothing to solve the underlying cause of the symptom.

And I suggest much the same applies to EE.

This is where I'm right behind Justloadit's post above in particular - it all starts with the quality of basic education. It is the single, most important thing government can do to affect the average outcome of the general populace - give them a great foundation as a springboard for their future (rather than making temporary props, and in the end being forced to reinforce them or even make them permanent).

[tec0]

AT EXACTLY 7.20pm on Thursday, I received a letter from Woolworths CEO Ian Moir. In the letter he reassures me that the racism that Woolworths is accused of is actually affirmative action and employment equity. Fair, then.

But why is Woolworths going out of its way then to "allay" the fears in me? I am not even participating in the so-called boycott by Solidarity. And if the company is following employment equity to the T, why apologise and reassure me ? Is employment equity not a legal statute and a government redress programme, also enshrined in the Constitution? So, what is this?

Here is my take. Woolworths and all other South African companies (put the South African Rugby Union and South African Airways in the mix) are cowards. Yes. Is the minority, who have lots of money, more important than the aspirations of millions of people? Is the 5% of the population more important than the other 95%? Is Solidarity voting with its wallet?

Can I demand that Woolworths retracts the statement or else? Why is Woolworths falling for the school-boy bulling of Solidarity? Is Woolworths’ clientele only Solidarity members? Well, I am not and I spend quite a bit at Woolworths. Should we sit around watching the aspirations of the majority being stifled because they do not have the "pulling power" of money?

What is the difference here compared to the situation at Marikana/ Lonmin? Had the miners belonged to the same race group as Solidarity, would their strike have been resolved by now? I guess, or else we withdraw our investments. This is sad.

Source

A lot or relevant questions here and very little answers?

[tec0]

Dear Woolworths customer. You may be aware that over the past few days Woolworths has been accused of racist recruitment practices – specifically, of not employing white people.

We want to reassure you that this is simply not true.

The rumours apparently were sparked by some of our recruitment ads that designate certain posts for certain groups, and are being fuelled by an organisation that has called on its members to boycott us.

We thought you’d like to hear the facts:

n Woolworths does employ white people. We employ women and men of all races, as well as people with disabilities, and will continue to do so.

n We’re a passionately South African company, so diversity is important to us. So is offering fair career opportunities. There are some areas of our business where certain groups are seriously underrepresented. These are the positions where we actively look for qualified candidates from specific groups.

n Most other businesses do the same to bring diversity into their workforces. In fact, in South Africa all businesses that have more than 50 employees are required to do this.

n We believe the responsible thing to do is to be open and transparent in our recruitment ads about the type of candidates we are looking for. Integrity is one of the values we hold dear.

As a born-and-bred South African company, we care deeply about the long-term sustainability of our country.

With your help we have made significant contributions, through programmes like MySchool, to socio-economic development. We will continue supporting transformation and socio-economic development because they are essential for our country’s (and our company’s) future.

Ian Moir

chief executive

, Woolworths

Source


The other side of the coin?

Now I cannot help but wonder if the job advertisement...

[Dave A]

A classic in the art of manipulative word play.

Dear Woolworths customer. You may be aware that over the past few days Woolworths has been accused of racist recruitment practices – specifically, of not employing white people.

We want to reassure you that this is simply not true.

As far as I know, Solidarity accuses Woolworths of unlawful, unfair racial discrimination, not racism.

Probably a good time to point out the difference between

racism: the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races

and

racial discrimination: "The term "racial discrimination" shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life".

[Just Gone]

As far as I know, Solidarity accuses Woolworths of unlawful, unfair racial discrimination, not racism

And plenty of people will still shop in Woolworths - why ? because their food is better - they have a higher standard than some of the others - they remove food when it reaches its expiry date, not move it to the front so hoping that the next customer will buy it - I have seen them remove food on more than one occasion on the exact expiry date - so people say what they want - they will still continue to shop at woolies - my wife and myself included.