An intolerable consequence of non-compliant manufacturing activity is that such employers enjoy significant competitive cost advantages against those employers who are compliant with the collective agreements of the National Bargaining Council. AMSA’s affiliated members have been suffering significant commercial prejudice from unfair competition for some time already and the developments in Newcastle yesterday materially exacerbates this prejudice. The situation is not sustainable. This not only translates into real and direct prejudice to compliant employer parties, but also jeopardises the job security of our members’ employees who are employed under conditions of 'decent work'.
AMSA and its affiliated members have no desire to shut down the operations of non-compliant employers. We desire a situation where all employers are fully compliant, allowing their employees to enjoy the benefit of fair labour practices whilst at the same time also achieving parity with regard to the conditions in which the various employers compete against each other. Leaving non-compliant manufacturing unchecked will directly lead to compliant factories being forced to retrench and/or close down as a consequence of losing work to the wide-spread non-compliant manufacturing activity in our sector. It is unacceptable that compliant employers and employees contracted under conditions of 'decent work' are the ones who are at risk under such circumstances.
The argument that seeks to preserve the employment of those that are employed under intolerably unfair conditions by non-compliant employers just so that the shutting down of such employers does not lead to any further job losses, is as illogical as it is capricious. To sacrifice a complying industry employing tens of thousands of workers under conditions of ‘decent work’, so that employees of non-compliant employers can continue to remain employed in oppressive circumstances, is unconscionable to say the least.
We are committed to search, together with SACTWU, for appropriate policy measures, which would facilitate and bring about a fair and equitable basis upon which fair labour practices and fair competition are achieved with zero to minimum consequences in respect of job losses. However, until such time as an agreed alternative wage model for the industry has been achieved, it remains intolerable to protect non-compliant jobs at the expense of 'decent jobs'. It furthermore amounts to a position which is not only inconsistent with current Government policy and the purpose of the Labour Relations Act , but is also in conflict with the public interest in so far as job creation and poverty alleviation is concerned.
Executive Director
Apparel Manufacturers of South Africa (AMSA)
Telephone: 021-4181913/4
The ReDress Consultancy
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