The South African clothing industry wage strike may be over however the battle relating to compliance and non-compliance will once again become a contentious issue within the apparel sector. According to news reports the apparel industry wish to make non-compliance a criminal offence. The focus seems to be in non-metropolitan areas. What about non-compliant companies within metro areas? The pressure to pursue companies that are non-compliant cannot be solely dependent on inspectors from the Bargaining Council or the union. The retails that use such companies as suppliers can play a vital role by stopping such procurement. Maybe there needs to be legislation in place to also "penalise" retailers for using non-compliant companies? The undertaking from provincial and local government not to use non-compliant companies must be monitored closely. I think it would be beneficial if a list of non-compliant companies could be made public.
CAPE TOWN — Employers and workers in the clothing industry have combined forces to lobby the government to recriminalise noncompliance with labour legislation.
This is because of the widespread flouting of the law in non-metropolitan areas, where employers pay less than the minimum wage and do not contribute to health scheme funds and provident funds.
The overstretched labour inspectorate has been unable to deal with the issue , which is so acute that compliant companies were being unfairly undercut, chief national negotiator for employer organisations Johann Baard said yesterday.
“Noncompliance in non-metro areas is a massive 80% of all the factories based there, which represent about a third of the total industry in the country. We think recriminalisation of labour legislation (particularly of noncompliance) which existed prior to 1994 will go a long way to address the problem.”
Recriminalisation would mean an offending company could be found guilty by a magisterial court and be penalised.
Baard said the wage differential for a qualified machinist between compliant and noncompliant companies was as high as R250 a week. These noncompliant companies were supplying the top five retailers and undercutting those who were playing by the rules, he said.
Baard said if the trend for companies to relocate to non-metro areas continued at the present rate, about two thirds of the industry would be based outside metropolitan areas in five years’ time. He stressed that the aim was not to eliminate the negotiated wage differential between metro and non-metro areas but to achieve compliance.
The agreement to lobby the government was reached at yesterday’s meeting of the clothing industry’s national bargaining council, where a wage deal was also signed between employers and the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (Sactwu), ending a two-week strike by 55000 workers.
To strengthen the role of the trade union in non-metro areas and assist it in combating noncompliance, the wage agreement includes a closed-shop provision for Sactwu in these areas. Sactwu was also empowered to institute noncompliance proceedings against noncompliant companies and to embark on protected industrial action against them. Furthermore, outsourcing to noncompliant companies would not be allowed in the industry and the parties undertook to enter into agreements with all provincial and local governments to limit their procurement to compliant companies.
Another critical issue for the industry covered by the wage agreement was the high level of absenteeism, especially in the Western Cape, which Baard attributed largely to substance abuse. The parties agreed on a strategy to address this, setting an interim target absenteeism rate of 5% by next September. They agreed that disciplinary action should not be used and that a study would be undertaken to measure the level of absenteeism.
At the meeting, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel called on business and labour to enter into a longer-term social partnership for growth and decent work to lift the industry out of a slump which has seen the loss of more than 7000 jobs — nearly 11% — in bargaining council employment over the past 12 months.
Business Day: 16/10/09
Patel challenges clothing industry
15 October 2009 - 14:56
Author: Sapa
With the clothing strike settled, the industry had to face up to the bigger challenge of ensuring its own survival, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel said. He was speaking in Cape Town after employers and union representatives signed an agreement formally ending the nationwide strike by some 55,000 clothing workers. "The realities are that we cannot compete on absolute wage costs with China," he said.
"The reality is, we cannot go back to very high tariff protection of the type seen before the mid-1990s. The reality is we cannot have industrial subsidies for the industry based on the model where you are on permanent life support from government." He said government had introduced a number of measures to support the sector, including some R500 million in either soft loans or grants to modernise the industry.
"I now wish to ask, what in turn will business and labour bring to a new growth strategy for the sector? What government does, alone, cannot transform the industry. It requires you." Patel said the industry held its future in its own hands.
Earlier, representatives of the SA Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) and clothing employer organisations signed the strike-breaking agreement. Sactwu general secretary Andre Kriel said it provided for immediate increases of seven to 11.8 percent, depending on job category and geographic location. The increases were worth an annual R128 million, he said. The agreement also sets an absenteeism target of five percent, and says special committees will be set up at each workplace to monitor this.
It says the clothing industry bargaining council will set up a dedicated productivity unit to promote productivity issued in the industry, and will look into the feasibility of a training institute to improve workers' skills. Kriel said the union and employers had come out of the negotiations and strike with a deep respect for each other, and he hoped they could all now turn their attention to issues such as trade and industrial policy.
Negotiator for the employers Johann Baard said that despite the bruising negotiations, employers were committed to re-establishing constructive relations with the union. "We simply have to work together for the industry to survive and grow," he said. The truth was that South African clothing manufacturers were "out-subsidised" by the Chinese. The industry would have to think very hard about creative solutions to bring about a level playing field.
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