I am not as harsh as Rjan over this. To be fair, if someone gives you a contract and says this will be your contract for the duration of your employment, it is reasonable to expect this to be the case. You may have made plans based on your income and to have the rug pulled isn’t great, although according the media reports, a pay-off of 18 months of the benefit was offered. Apparently some took the offer and went on the new contract, which is fair enough. The legal wrangling is ongoing of course and far from finalised with an interim interdict at one site to prevent fire and rehire tactics by the supermarket for the time being.
As I have said, how much union time and funds can be used to protect superior pay for a minority of workers carrying out the same job as those on less pay? The principle is fine, it is more the mechanism of using a union to fight the case, where those claiming are only a small proportion of the workforce.