Aspen Pharmacare is starting a fresh wave of retrenchments, with more than 900 jobs now at risk.
The latest retrenchments follow the loss of 134 jobs caused by the shutdown of the multinational pharmaceutical company’s eyedrops production facility in Gqeberha.
In the past 12 months, Aspen has retrenched a total of 208 workers.
The company has 451 employees in East London and 2,064 in Gqeberha.
Employees, who did not want to be named, said everyone was tense.
“No-one knows if they will have a job next week or next month,” one worker said.
“They have retrenched more than 200 employees in the last 12 months, and now they want to let go of another 923.
“It is a bloodbath of job losses.”
On Thursday, Aspen SA Operations general manager Branson Bosman sent a Section 189A notice to unions.
Bosman said the company was considering operational changes that could result in redundancies in some areas of the business.
This was due to the closure of the eyedrops lines, loss of manufacturing contracts and escalating costs.
According to the notice, 923 employees will be affected.
There are thousands of jobs at stake due to a wave of Section 189 notices issued by large employers across SA.
The latest retrenchments affect companies such as Glencore, ArcelorMittal, Ford SA and Assmang.
Tyre producer Goodyear SA had also shut down its facility in Kariega, resulting in the loss of 900 jobs.
Unions are contesting the outcome of the Aspen SVP 1 consultation process, which resulted in 134 jobs cut tied to the closure of its eyedrops production facility, after findings by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
A CCMA conciliation meeting is set for September 11.
Unions previously accused the company of starting a new round of retrenchments during the process.
Aspen spokesperson Shauneen Beukes said the company would not comment on employee or employment-related matters, when asked about the latest round.
“As previously indicated to The Herald, kindly be advised that Aspen doesn’t engage with the media on internal and/or employee-related matters,” she said.
In the notice, Bosman said no date had been set for the layoffs, which would depend on consultation outcomes and business continuity needs.
He said the reasons the company had to restructure were:
- Changes in the output requirements of the site, coupled with the need to address resultant operational inefficiencies;
- Ensuring that the site continues to operate in full compliance with good manufacturing practice (GMP) and pharmaceutical industry benchmarks to ensure competitiveness, and;
- Loss or non‑renewal of certain third‑party manufacturing contracts that formed a material component of volume and recovery of fixed costs;
In previous disclosures, the company said it had lost a R2bn contract.
“Over the past period, Aspen SA operations have experienced a significant change in its operational requirements directly affecting its manufacturing operations and cost base,” Bosman said.
“These circumstances, which have previously been communicated during prior consultations with organised labour and employee representatives, continue to materially affect the sustainability of the business.”
Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers Union organiser Karools Adams said it was still challenging the first round of retrenchments because Aspen was not clear on what selection criteria were used.
“We challenged them because they started retrenching people outside the SVP 1 Suite A, and they told us that was because they wanted to retain skills.
“They moved on to Suite B, and we still have a conciliation meeting on September 11,” he said.
The last day for workers in the first round of retrenchments was July 31.
The eyedrops lines were suspended after a September 2024 FDA inspection and permanently decommissioned in April 2025.
The FDA warned Aspen in February that the facility put the products at risk of microbial contamination.
Adams said the company has already started with the second round.
“On August 6, they started the process of retrenching [again] and informed people that those who want to take voluntary packages can do so. This was done without consulting us,” he said.
“We started challenging them because people were getting letters, and some have already stopped working.
“They gave two notices, and none of them have time frames, so that means they can just pick and choose what they want to do.”
Numsa regional secretary Mziyanda Twani did not respond to questions by the time of publication.
One of the retrenched workers from the first round said some employees only found out after trying to return to work that they had lost their jobs.
“On July 22, some people in Suite B found out they were on the list of people to be laid off.
“They went to management and were told it could no longer be reversed as the list was final.
“On the same day when they tried to get back from lunch at 5pm, they were blocked and got their letters even though it said the last day of employment was July 31,” she said.
The eyedrops production facility was marketed exclusively in the US.
The FDA found Aspen did not establish scientific systems to monitor impurities during stability testing of products containing the active pharmaceutical ingredients naphazoline hydrochloride or tetrahydrozoline hydrochloride.
They are found in non-prescription eyedrops used to treat redness caused by minor irritations.
It said FDA inspectors had found levels of impurities, which could not be identified, that might pose a risk to patient safety.
The Herald
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