The Western Cape branch of the Congress of South African Trade Unions is opposed to retailer Wal-mart's presence in South Africa, the union said yesterday.

"We are alarmed that we're even considering an offer from Walmart to take over key, strategic national companies in South Africa," Cosatu said in a statement.

This followed the announcement on Monday that Walmart, which is the largest retailer in the world, had made a R30-billion offer to acquire JSE-listed Massmart.

Cosatu said Walmart was "notoriously anti-union" and an "affront to workers' rights wherever it operated", and called for urgent state action "to investigate this hostile move by Walmart".

Cosatu said the undermining of rights in one chain of stores would force non-compliance in other chains of stores and put South Africa on a downward spiral in terms of labour law compliance.

Walmart, however, vowed to respect labour legislation.

"We respect and honour pre-existing union relationships and are committed to abiding by South African labour laws," Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Wal-mart International, said in a statement on Monday.

By The Times (SA)