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12 March, 2007
ICEM South African affiliate, the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers’ Union (CEPPWAWU), raised some legitimate concerns at the annual general meeting of pulp and paper produce Sappi on 5 March.
The union asked acting CEO Eugene van As why the South African-based company faces such high staff turnover, particularly among technical workers. It also asked why Sappi does not have a viable succession plan in place for executives.
The latter point was a reference to the dismissal of CEO John Leslie last year, just two years after he left Rio Tinto to replace van As as Sappi’s CEO. The world’s number one producer of fine coated paper also lost three other executive directors last year, including Finance Director Don Wilson.
CEPPWAWU demanded to know if there was any prospect of a new CEO being appointed soon, or if van As would stay on. The union also said poor morale in the South African operations of the company was the cause of high turnovers, both at lower levels of the workforce and among technical staff. “Why are these resigning?” asked CEPPWAWU Organiser Michael Mokoana.
Van As, who resigned in 2003 to take up the post of non-executive chairman after 25 years as CEO, stepped back in last year as acting CEO. In response to CEPPWAWU’s question, he said it was not his intention to stay in the position. “This is not where I wanted to be … not where I should be, but this is what we had to do.”
Van As admitted the company was concerned about the turnover, but said it was not abnormally high. He did admit that six months ago, a number of key people in the company’s Johannesburg head office did depart.
Sappi employs about 15,000 people in South Africa, Europe, and North America, with roughly half that number in South Africa, where the company operates pulp and paper mills, wood products operations, and manages timberlands.