Rubicon for South African clothing industry

The South African clothing industry faces its Rubicon today.

A big day for wages in the clothing industry

The fate of 22000 jobs depends on what the bargaining council decides, writes Edward West

THE fate of 22000 jobs in the clothing and textile industries will be decided today at a meeting between manufacturers and the National Bargaining Council (NBC) for the clothing manufacturing and garment knitting industry.

NBC national compliance officer Leon Deetlefs says the meeting will decide whether the bargaining council proceeds with legal action against the 385 clothing factories nationally that have been found to not comply with minimum wage standards, or whether a new wage model will be determined for the industry.

He does not rule out the possibility of other solutions being found for an industry that has been shedding jobs for many years as it battles a number of issues, including illegal and cheaper imports from Far Eastern countries and India, rising costs and slow local demand.

The meeting follows a 30-day moratorium on factory closures, granted after about 120 firms in the Newcastle area shut their doors in solidarity when the NBC tried to close two factories in the area.

During the moratorium , discussions have taken place among the departments of labour and trade and industry, various provincial governments, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and employer representatives , with the aim of finding solutions.

The 88 clothing and knitting factories in Newcastle that already have writs issued against them for not complying with the bargaining council’s rules have to present their case today to the NBC.

Mr Deetlefs says if no solution is found, jobs are going to be lost at either end of the wage scale. Either noncompliant factories will be closed, or jobs with the businesses that do comply will be lost because the noncompliant companies are competing unfairly .

He says this process has already started and the industry is “in a downward spiral’’. For instance, Seardel , SA’s biggest clothing manufacturer, has informed the NBC that about 850 jobs will be lost with the closure of the operating division of its Intimate Apparel SA subsidiary in Cape Town from November 30 , because it cannot compete effectively any longer.

The Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) this week branded clothing companies affiliated with the Newcastle Chinese Chamber of Commerce (NCCC) as the worst employers. The Worst Employer Award, a broken brick, was announced at the union’s congress.

Chamber spokesman Alex Liu jokes that he will fetch the brick because he does not want it thrown at any of the factories, such as happened during the strike last year.

Mr Liu says Sactwu’s claim that the chamber’s clothing companies pay a machinist between R180 and R280 a week is incorrect; its members pay machinists R250-R550 a week. The legal minimum wage for a machinist is R479,10 a week.

Part of the problem is a lack of communication between the role players in the industry, he says.

Mr Liu says today’s meeting may decide the “survival of the industry” and, in this respect, the chamber would not tolerate any violation of basic conditions of employment among its members.

He says local clothing manufacturers in Newcastle are also struggling to compete with the low wages being paid by clothing manufacturers in Swaziland and Lesotho. Here, even fully NBC-compliant firms are being threatened.

“If we want to keep our clothing industry, we need a kind of a revolution,” Mr Liu says.

The chamber has criticised the central bargaining process because it does not take into account regional, urban and rural differences, and small clothing makers are not represented on the NBC.

Sactwu sec retary-general Andre Kriel says over the three-year period from July 1 2007 to June 30 this year , 18291 clothing sector jobs were lost, 52% of which were in areas where wage rates were the lowest in the clothing industry.

“The union is determined to intensify its compliance enforcement campaign in the immediate period ahead,” Mr Kriel says.

Ref: Business Day, 30 September 2010

Newcastle Clothing Sector Update

DA visits Newcastle clothing factories to seek solution to closure threats

By Ayanda Mdluli

THE NEWCASTLE factories saga, which has put close to 9 500 jobs at risk, has taken a new dimension with the DA entering the fray. A delegation from the official opposition, headed by DA trade and industry spokesman Tim Harris, met with factory owners and workers accompanied by a team of delegates in Newcastle on Monday.

Other DA leaders in the delegation were MPs Sherry Chen and Alf Lees and provincial DA deputy leader and member of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature Sizwe Mchunu. The delegation visited members of the Newcastle Chinese Chamber of Commerce (NCCC), which was recently branded as having the worst employers by the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu), and the Newcastle Chinese Textile Industries Association in separate meetings.

Harris said the DA's main concern over the closure of non-compliant factories was the potential threat of job losses. He expressed that more than a million jobs had been lost since the recession started and that the main cause for the DA's involvement was that of finding a way to create jobs in the sector. "Several misguided ANC policies have worsened the situation. Centralised bargaining arrangements have priced rural factories out of the labour market and the ruling party's cosy relationship with the trade unions has blocked reform. This has resulted in an unusual situation where factory workers in Newcastle are siding with their employers against the closure of the plants by the bargaining council," said Harris.

He further clarified the DA's position and told factory owners that the party would never endorse a situation that resulted in the exploitation of workers and inadequate working conditions, adding that the two factories that the party had visited met the minimum standards for working conditions. "We had been made aware of isolated incidents of exploitation in recent years and we condemned them in the strongest terms. The state has a responsibility to protect workers," he added.

Harris said several interventions by the state to curb unemployment over the past decade had failed. He said simple policy reforms would have had a positive effect on employment. "The implementation of DA polices would have a revitalising influence on the factories under threat of closure."  He explained that the DA's proposal of wage subsidies for first-time job seekers would help lower the cost of employment and the direct reimbursement of training costs would help improve skill levels, while labour bargaining reform would also make it easier for new entrants to operate.

Harris said he was confident these policies would create more jobs. In contrast, ANC KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala said factories had to comply with the rules and regulations and must pay the minimum wages.

Zikalala added that the government was dealing with the matter and the party would intervene if there was a need. Sactwu general secretary Andre Kriel stressed that job creation in the clothing industry could not be based on slave wages. "Member companies of the NCCC paid machinists between R' and R280 per week, while the legal minimum wage for a machinist is already low at R479.10 per week."

In addition, Kriel said there was no evidence to suggest that low wages were a guarantee against job losses. He said according to a report delivered to the congress, it was revealed that over a three-year period to June 30, 18 291 clothing sector jobs were lost and 52 percent of them were from areas such as Ladysmith, Qwa Qwa, Newcastle, Port Shepstone and Botshabelo, where the wages were the lowest in the industry.

Ferdi Alberts, the director of economic development at the Newcastle municipality, said wages should be based on productivity. "Workers should be paid based on what they produce. Wages must be linked to production and an incentive should be provided for those who work hard."

Alberts referred to China, where the government provided companies with an incentive to stay afloat after the recession. "In China, there is also an export incentive and if companies manufactured goods they would get an 11 percent export incentive from the government. The government in China is also paying the full unemployment insurance fund for employees. It's small but it assists. The government there is taking proactive measures to keep the economy growing."

Tholakele Shabalala, a machinist at the Old Tailor Garments factory at Madadeni in Newcastle, said she did not experience any problems with the working conditions at the factory. However, she expressed concern over the R310 she earned every week. "Sometimes what we earn is not enough, but at least we have been empowered and can manufacture our own clothes. If I had the means I could start my own business from the skills that I learned here," she added.

Published on the web by Business Report on September 28, 2010.

________________________________________

© Business Report 2010. All rights reserved.

Rob Davies warns Sactwu of Asian giants

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies says South African clothing and textile workers will need to improve their productivity a great deal if they want to compete with Asian manufacturers. SABC news reports that the minister directed his comments to the South African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (Sactwu), during his address at the union's national congress in Cape Town. The minister called for the protection of the industry against Eastern giants, saying reserving certain items like police, military and hospital uniforms for local production is part of such measures.

During his address, Davies warned Sactwu that the local industry was facing an onslaught from Asian countries; he added however that if the local production market gets its game right, they can identify particular segments of the textile industry to target. Delegates were then urged to come up with more proposals to protect the industry. Davies says government wants to align its procurement policy with Black Economic Empowerment codes, to benefit workers.

Davies launched a new programme last week Tuesday which his department said would assist the clothing and textile industry in upgrading its processes. "The main objective is to assist industry in upgrading processes, products and people, and to re-position it to compete effectively, domestically and globally." the department had said in a statement.

Reference: http://www.newstime.co.za/

Union concerned about Wal-Mart entry into South Africa

The ReDress consultancy comments:
"Empire" Wal-Mart, the retailer that posted more than $14 billion in net profits for the year-to-date January 2010 have plans to enter South Africa in 2011. Their entry will most definitely agitate the current apparel retail landscape.

We could see an influx of apparel imports that could create new competition for retailers like Mr Price. Furthermore, Wal-Mart is renowned for it exploitation of labour in sweatshops. The South African clothing Union Sactwu stated that they would be watching the situation closely.  Our apparel industry can ill afford an influx of cheap imports let alone imports from questionable suppliers.  It is imperative that the union places pressure or puts into place through the DTI some form of protectionist policies to ensure that Wal-Mart apparel imports do not originate from sweatshops.  A further concern for the union is if Wal-Mart decides to set up apparel production facilities in South Africa. Will they abide by Bargaining Council wages or will the Bargaining Council and the union find themselves confronting a company that knows how to fight unions?

The Sweatshop Hall of Shame 2010 highlights apparel and textile companies that use sweatshops in their global production. Hall of Shame inductees are responsible for evading fair labor standards and often are slow to respond or provide no response at all to any attempts by the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), workers, or others to improve working conditions.


The official inductees of the 2010 Sweatshop Hall of Shame are: Abercrombie and Fitch, Gymboree, Hanes, Ikea, Kohl’s, LL Bean, Pier 1 Imports, Propper International, and Walmart. Click on the link to read the report.
http://www.laborrights.org/sites/default/files/publications-and-resources/sweatshop_hall_shame_2010.pdf



The bigger concerns on the Wal-Mart offer to buyout Massmart


On Monday morning the world was greeted by the news of an offer by Wal-mart the worlds biggest retailer to buyout Massmart, at a a price that might look very tempting to shareholders and will definitely be so for top managers. The offer saw the value of Massmart shares jump with more than 10%. Surely this will appear very attractive to many shareholders. However, this offer and the likelihood of a deal has much more to do with simply what shareholders will get on accepting the offer.

For sometime now SACCAWU has not only anticipated this intention of Wal-Mart but we have also actively participated in international campaigns against Wal-Mart as one of the worst and stubbornly anti-union companies in the world. Thus, a takeover of Massmart by Wal-Mart is a matter of serious concern to the SACCAWU.

Some facts about Wal-Mart anti union activities:

• Wal-Mart is a known anti-union company with training and toolkits for managers to keep the workplace union-free.

• It took almost fifty years for workers to successfully get Wal-Mart recognise a union at one of their US outlets.

• It has closed down departments and stores in North America where workers have successfully unionise themselves.

• By July 2008 the company faced more than 80 lawsuits in connection with wages, overtime and hours violations, most of it class actions, with more than 10 000 workers affected in many of the cases.

• It currently faces the largest class action on discrimination of women with more than 1.5 million women workers being part of the action.

• It pays women less then men and women are less likely to be promoted than male workers.

• It has been in court for racial discrimination against African-Americans truck drivers and Muslim employees of West African origin.

• In the 2008 US Presidential elections it was exposed to have actively co-erced their employees not to vote for Obama - the reason, Obama will make it easy to for unions to get into the workplace.

• It has been listed in Human Rights Watch reports for its aggressiveness of its anti-union activities.

• In the US wage levels at Wal-Mart has been found to be between 26% -37% lower than the national average.

• In 2008 it was fined 2 billion US dollars for more than two million wage related violations.

• Recently it was compelled to pay 34 million US dollars in unpaid back wages.

• Today in the US, it still represents the main opposition to a bi-partisan Free Choice Act that will allow workers to form and join unions easier.

• It conducts illegal surveillance on its employees to root out any attempts to unionisation.

However, it is not only the anti-union attitude that concerns us, also the impact that the general operations of Wal-Mart have on local economies, distributors, suppliers and manufacturers. While Wal-Mart has been touted as the cheapest retail outlets, new studies increasingly show that basket comparisons between Wal-Mart and competitors show the opposite, and this has seen a shrinking of its market share in the US, their biggest market. This might be one of the considerations for this move into AFRICA.

Wal-Mart has become so powerful that it dictate to their suppliers at what price they prepared to buy goods and failure have seen many suppliers, distributors and manufacturers going down. But more important, this 'reverse auction' relationship it has with suppliers has seen, not only the collapse of local manufacturing in many instances, but has also fueled the use of child labour and extreme low wage labour in other parts of the world where they source their goods from, like Guatemala and Bangladesh. Therefore, if this deal goes through, it will be a severe blow to all our intentions and attempts to build and develop local manufacturing, it will be a set-back for our buy local campaign and can lead to further increased unemployment not only in wholesale and retail but also in other sectors of the economy. Further, this development by its nature also poses serious threats to other wholesale and retail competitors in the country.

So why would the management tout this as a great deal? Who are to benefit? Not the eceonomy, not the workers, not even some of the shareholders, but top management and only those with astronomical amounts of shares. Top management will not only make millions from the sale but will immediately after the sale be offered large amounts of shares. Really, if anybody is to gain it will be the same top management that will try and sell the deal to its shareholders and the country as a great investment.

It is for all these reasons that we cautiously follow the developments and expect the Massmart management to come to us to show what the detail of this deal entail. However, it goes without saying that we as SACCAWU, will not allow any erosion of workers rights and benefits gained over decades through bitter struggles. We will not be silent and watch the destruction of local procurement polices we are fighting for, we will not allow further destruction of the local manufacturing go unchallenged. We will have to engage the company and call on our citizens to support us in a campaign against the Walmartisation of the sector. We call on shareholders to be wary of this to good to be true offer and the implications for our economy. If necessary we will engage the Competitions Commissions and even the Minister of Economic Development as well as the DTI to ensure that a deal so hostile to national interests and the developmental objectives of our country is not undermined. Either way, the call for an intensification of our campaign against the Walmartisation of or sector will be extended to the entire labour movement and civil society of the country.

The denials and conspicuous secrecy by Massmart management towards SACCAWU, when we've raised this matter numerous times with them leaves much to be desired. This coupled with the Walmartisiation of operations at play already resulted into serious disputes and shedding of jobs. Some of the new measures included unilateral introduction of new technology, re-engineering that expect workers to re-apply for their current jobs which include the threat of down variation and demotion for workers or loose their jobs. Finally, we have for sometime noticed a growing hostility towards SACCAWU over the last few years which we always believed had to do with this intentions. SACCAWU will not sit-back, but engage in a determined fight-back including calling on our international allies to support this struggle.

Mike Abrahams
media@saccawu.org.za
0823365363

Clothing wage dispute update

South Africa
Brought to you by The ReDress Consultancy
Press updates:

Minister gets tough on the clothing sector

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies on Saturday said government’s new policies will make it more difficult for businesses in the clothing sector to cook the books. For more click on the link.
http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/articleprog.aspx?id=49341
26 September 2010

IEC throws local clothing sector a bone

September 27, 2010
By Florence de Vries

In a bid to revive the ailing local clothing and textile industry, the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) has persuaded the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to insist on locally manufactured T-shirts for next year's local government elections.
Industry insiders say the IEC's agreement with Sactwu is an important step towards paving the way to state procurement in the local clothing and textile industry. For more click on the link.
http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=561&fArticleId=5662737

New wage structure for rag trade tabled

Council considers chamber's proposal is worth discussing
September 27, 2010
By SLINDILE KHANYILE

THE National bargaining council for the clothing manufacturing industry would consider a new wage structure for the sector that has been proposed by the Newcastle Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Free State Clothing Manufacturers and the KwaZulu-Natal Cut, Make and Trim Forum. For more click on the link.
http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=561&fArticleId=5662736

DA MPs visit textile factories

Democratic Alliance

27 September 2010

Inspired by Helen Suzman's greatest life lesson: "go and see for yourself"

For more than 10 years, ANC administrations have announced plan after plan to stem the loss of jobs in the clothing and textile sector. Most of these have amounted to nothing, even as job losses continue to mount. Over the past decade and a half, as many as 100,000 jobs have been lost in the sector. A recent flurry of announcements from government ministers have once again raised the hopes that textile workers that they will not lose their jobs, and that unemployed job seekers may find work in the sector. The Clothing and Textiles Competitiveness Programme, a Production Incentive, the Training Layoff Scheme, a Local Content Quota and several others have recently been floated as new interventions to assist the sector. But based on the limited success of previous government programmes many analysts are questioning this administration's capacity to implement these programmes.

Therefore, over the coming weeks, and inspired by Helen Suzman's greatest life lesson: "go and see for yourself", a team of DA public representatives are touring textile factories to assess the status of South Africa's clothing and textile sector. They will evaluate the potential for simple policy reforms to provide better assistance to the sector than the ongoing raft of interventions flowing from the Department of Trade and Industry.

The tour begins today. This afternoon, a group of DA public representatives and members, including Tim Harris MP, DA Shadow Minister of Trade and Industry; Sizwe Mchunu MPL, deputy DA leader in KwaZulu-Natal and Alf Lees MP, constituency MP for Newcastle, and former DA MP Sherry Chen are touring textile factories in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, following the stand-off between factory owners and the national bargaining council. Our delegation will meet with workers, factory owners and other role-players in an effort to better understand those forces threatening to undermine the sector, and begin to formulate a plan to finally improve competitiveness, increase investment and create jobs.

As part of our tour, we will also visit plants in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape during October. Details of further visits will be announced ahead of time.

Poor women workers battered by South Africa wage law

Sep 27, 2010 02:39 PM

A national drive to close down clothes factories who flout the minimum wage laws is crushing women working on the factory floor – the very people it is supposed to help.

A national drive to close down clothes factories who flout the minimum wage laws is crushing women working on the factory floor – the very people it is supposed to help.

Some working in the nation’s Chinese and Taiwanese-owned factories make as little as about £23 a week, £13 less than the minimum wage. But many still need the scant wage to support children or large extended families, most of whom are jobless.

More than a third of South Africans are jobless. With its own industry in freefall because of low-wage competition from China and too few unskilled job openings, many women are more scared of being out of work more than getting stuck in badly paid jobs.

For longer than 10 years, South Africa’s jobless figure has been among the highest in the world, fuelling crime, inequality and social instability in Africa’s richest nation. And the global recession has made things much worse, wiping out more than a million jobs. “The numbers are mind-boggling,” Yale University economist James Levinsohn, told The New York Times.

The average worker in South Africa makes about four times what city workers make in China and are much higher than their counterparts in other developing countries, which has made people reluctant to invest in it. A recent wave of strikes hasn’t improved the situation.

As Chinese-made clothing has flooded the market, the number of clothes factory workers employed in South Africa has plummeted to 60,000 from 150,000 in 1996. And if the 300 plus factories breaking the minimum wage law get closed down, 20,000 more jobs could go.

The women who work for them, also striving for their families, have seen their industry crumble. In Newcastle, in the country's north-west, 7,000 people have lost their jobs in recent years as three large factories went out of business.

Emily Mbongwa, 52, was one. She lost her job in 2004. She never found another one.

“The factory passed away,” she explained sadly, as if describing a death in the family.

Now, she is looking after other women’s children. She watches five children from 6 am to 6 pm, five days a week.

Dubbed Africa's superpower, South Africa went into recession in May 2009 after a sharp slowdown in mining and manufacturing. The construction industry, on the other hand, benefited from a huge programme of government investment ahead of the 2010 World Cup.

Reference:

“SOS Children” refers to SOS Children’s Villages worldwide. SOS Children is also a working name for SOS Children’s Villages UK.

Sactwu 11th National Congress

Sactwu 11th National Congress - 2010

The National Congress is the highest policy- and decision making structure of the Southern African Clothing & Textile Workers’ Union (SACTWU). The union’s constitution requires it to be held once every three years. Congress is an opportunity to review the work of the organisation, specifically progress with the implementation of its Programme of Action decisions adopted at the previous Congress held 3 years ago. It is also an opportunity renew the mandates on policy and leadership, for the period ahead.

click on the link below for more.

http://www.sactwu.org.za/events/national-congress

Date: 21 September 2010


Press Statement

Update on wage negotiations

In accordance with the request from the clothing Bargaining Council, The Newcastle Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (NCCCCI) submitted our proposal on 20 September 2010 as to how we could find an equable way forward in this deadlock between our CMT’s and the Bargaining Council in respect to wage regulations in the hope that there would be a solution that would not result in further job losses within South Africa’s clothing sector.

The meeting was attended by:

The Bargaining Council
The Southern African Clothing Textile Workers’ Union
Apparel Manufacturers of South Africa
The Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry
The Free State Clothing Manufacturing Association
The Costal Clothing Manufacturing Association
The Newcastle Chinese Clothing & Textile Industrial Association


In summary these organizations excluding Apparel Manufacturers of South Africa (AMSA) which represent 129 companies employing over 9500 workers proposed the following weekly wage structure for consideration.

General Worker:
Non-Metro: R220.00
Metro: R300.00

Unqualified Machinist:
Non-Metro: R250.00
Metro: R350.00

Qualified Machinist:
Non-Metro: R280.00
Metro: R450.00

New staff employed in factories that full under the auspices of the NCCCI would be paid R200.00 per week for the first six months of their employment whilst they undertake skills development. The implementation of this new wage structure would not have any detrimental effect on the wages of our current staff.

At the meeting we stated that the clothing companies we represent cannot afford the current wage levels as determined by the Bargaining Council due to the extremely difficult trade environment which is not helped by the continual driving down of manufacturing prices by the retailers, the influx of illegal and under invoiced apparel and the competition we face by South African clothing manufacturers who have relocated due to cheaper labour to Swaziland and Lesotho only to export the finished garments back to South Africa at a cheaper price than what we can produce locally using local labour.

We requested the Bargaining Council to waive all outstanding fines that are according to their records owned by employers as we believe the accuracy and reliability of the assessments done by the Bargaining Council is flawed.

Furthermore, we requested fair and equal representation on the Bargaining Council either directly or through an elected representative. We stated that the methodology of the Bargaining Council in implementing any prosecutions against employers needs to be re-evaluated so that such legal action is implemented at a faster rate than is currently happing. We said such expediency would alleviate companies having to pay two years in back pay which has a negative impact on both the cash-flow and operational status of companies.

We are pleased to announce that our proposal was supported by the Apparel Manufacturers Association and that the proposal was not rejected outright either by the union or the Bargaining Council. The proposal, furthermore, is demonstrative that we have never intended nor do we intend to operate illegally. Instead, it is suggesting that the legislated wage regulations for the apparel industry be re-evaluated so that this industry sector can become more competitive which in turn will retain much needed jobs and if supported by the retail sector which is the dominant player in the value-chain can grow to create further job creation and much needed industrial growth.

The Bargaining Council has provided us with a thirty day reprieve which allows us to continue operating. For a variety of reasons we were not happy with this recommendation. The Bargaining Council and union stated that they would need to study and present our proposal to their respective executives and would set up a further meeting to respond to our proposal. We are grateful that the Bargaining Council has provided this space to continue our operations; however, this uncertainty in regard to our future leaves our clients and us in a difficult and tenuous position.

We sincerely hope that the union and the Bargaining Council will apply their minds during this interim period to our proposal in an earnest fashion and take into consideration the precarious situation the clothing sector is in and the thousands of jobs that are stake.

Alex Liu

21 September 2010

Published by:



 

 

 

The ReDress Consultancy assisted in the formulation of this statement

Response to CITY PRESS ARTICLE by The ReDress Consultancy

This is a response to the City Press article “Union owns stake in sweat shop”, 19 September 2010

South Africa’s clothing and textile sector is in crisis. If one views the sector from a historical and contemporary perspective, many conflicting agendas prevail in a context that lacks a co-ordinated collective strategy to implement a unified policy direction.

It must be said that the Department of Trade and Industry is active in this regard, and that the Industrial Development Corporation has launched noteworthy incentive programmes. However, there is a need for statistical evidence of the benefits that these initiatives have brought to the industry thus far.

The fragmented vision and operations among the key value-chain role-players in this sector – the clothing Union, Bargaining Council, manufacturers, retailers and related suppliers – is resulting in dozens of smaller clothing companies facing closure, which will affect thousands of skilled employees and their dependents. The inability of these role-players to coalesce, find common ground and focus on solutions through creative latitude is undermining the industry and the country’s economy.

My work in apparel-related research and advocacy involves discerning gaps and inconsistencies organisational and policy development. In my collaborations with several Sactwu officials on pro bono projects, I have noted the Union’s commitment to and capacity for socially responsible campaigns, one example being its strategy for HIV and AIDS education. However, from an industry perspective, the actions of the Union and their link with Seardel can be confusing and worrying, and Anna Maria Lombard’s article in City Press of 19 September 2010 (“Union owns stake in sweat shop”) exposes these contradictions.

In August I wrote that Sactwu had informed the Apparel Manufacturers of South Africa (AMSA) that they supported non-compliant companies and were reluctant to sanction the writs of executions against these companies. AMSA’s Executive Director Johann Baard stated that they had had discussions with the Union about non-compliant companies, noting that the Union “[feared] further job losses if minimum labour conditions [were] enforced.”

One has to ask why the Union’s position has since changed towards placing pressure on these companies. For example, in May this year, Sam Mashinini, Cosatu’s provincial secretary for the Free State, criticised factory owners in Lesotho for paying “pitiable salaries to workers.” In his address at a Workers’ Day rally he said it was “curious that factories were being shut down in most parts of South Africa only to be reopened in Lesotho.” Mashinini said the visit by Cosatu to Lesotho was to “sensitise the local factory and textile workers about their rights.”

Sactwu claims that the Seardel factories were already in Lesotho before they invested in the company. Is there any movement toward relocating these factories back to South Africa?

In September 2009, Lesotho textile workers requested their parliament to “urgently” intervene and help improve their miserable working conditions and meager wages.” By extension, is not Sactwu responsible for ensuring that workers at Seardel’s Lesotho-based companies receive fair wages and other employment benefits? Is it morally right to exploit foreign workers, but insist that local clothing and textile companies adhere to stringent labour regulations or face being shut down?

Another contradiction is that a large percentage of the clothing manufactured in Lesotho is exported to South Africa. This is hampering South African manufacturers and limiting labour growth opportunities.

The Seardel Group has experienced considerable job losses for a number of reasons. Ultimately, Seardel is accountable to their shareholders who are concerned with the bottom line. How many jobs have been created within the Seardel Group since the Union bought into the company? Will further re-engineering within the group result in further job losses?

The article in City Press is not an attack on the integrity of either the Union or the Seardel Group. It highlights that this industry sector is extremely polarised and that apparel and textile manufacturers, both large and small, are trying to navigate through this complex terrain. It is understandable that perceptions about hidden agendas are created. Many factory owners across the sector are anxious about the future of the industry and their business operations.

The argument that non-compliant apparel companies create unfair competition is a valid one. However, many of these companies are not acting from a principle of defiance or greed; rather, their business models simply cannot endure the restrictions of compliance, and alternatives must be sought. It is imperative that this industry gets its house in order if we are to compete in a globalised economy. The report “SA needs labour reforms-IMF”, in the Business Report, 2 September, 2010, highlights this. I have been writing about the inflexibility of our labour and wage systems for some time and the IMF report confirms this thinking and need.

Truworths is the biggest listed apparel retailer and in August it posted a 12% rise in full-year profits with sales increasing by 11% to R6.9bn. It could be construed that there is an economic reason for Truworths’ relocation to Swaziland. There are many South African-owned companies based in Lesotho and Swaziland; we need to know why this is so, and what we can do to convince them to reinstate operations in South Africa.

At a workshop hosted in September by the Department of Trade and Industry, a Sactwu member stated that the clothing and textile sector was one of the few in which there has been very little transformation in respect to Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment. One could be forgiven for asking who might want to invest in a sector that has shed so many jobs and has such an uncertain future. Through retrenchments and retirements, the industry is losing skills, and there is little uptake into the apparel manufacturing sector. Millions of our unemployed young people could be encouraged and supported with relevant skills training to enter this sector, but threats of closure, untenable wage demands and low productivity preclude such development.

As a proud South African, I firmly believe in the potential viability of our apparel industry. Lombard’s City Press article should be read as an evidence-based platform for mobilising a constructive response to the concerns it describes, and for advocacy towards an equitable and creative plan for the sector’s sustainability. Above all, we must remember that the livelihoods and wellbeing of thousands of our people are at stake.

Resources:

“Rag workers threaten sheriff”, Times Live, 8 August 2010

“ Cosatu blasts Lesotho salaries”, Lesotho Times, 5 May 2010
“Workers take wage fight to parliament”, Lesotho Times, 9 September 2010
“Truworths lifts profit, cautious on outlook”, Fin24.com, 19 August 2010

News from SACTWU

SACTWU WELCOMES IEC ORDER FOR LOCALLY MADE ELECTION T-SHIRTS

The COSATU-affiliated Southern African Clothing & Textile Workers’ Union (SACTWU) has noticed, through its in-house tender monitoring system, that the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has invited tenders for 210 000 units of t-shirts to be used by its electoral agents in next year’s local government elections.


We note that the tender specifications require these t-shirts to be manufactured locally, and welcome this requirement. It will help to save and possible even create jobs in the local clothing industry. We have alerted local clothing manufacturers to this tender.

We have written to the IEC, congratulating it on this, but also cautioning it against any possible attempts by tenderers to bypass the local manufacturing requirement.

Issued by
Andre Kriel
SACTWU
General Secretary
20 September 2010

If further comment is required, kindly contact Etienne Vlok, Director of the Southern African Labour Research Institute (SALRI), the union’s research wing, on 082 448 0506.




SACTWU MOBILE HIV/AIDS CLINICS WIND THEIR WAY TO CAPE TOWN

The SACTWU Worker Health Programme (SWHP) has taken the fight against HIV and Aids to a new level.

Two of our mobile health care clinics, each fully equipped and professionally staffed to conduct on-site HIV testing and counselling, are on a road show from Durban to Cape Town. On their way, they are delivering
Voluntary Counselling & Testing (VCT) services to SACTWU members and the community. As at this morning, the two clinics have tested 600 persons and counselled each on their HIV status. On their return trip to Durban, they will do the same.

The mobile clinics left Durban on 13 September 2010 and are due to arrive in Cape Town on 22nd September 2010.

Today and tomorrow, one mobile clinic is delivering VCT services at Southgate Mall in Soweto and the other at NY6 Mdantsane City Mall near East London.

In 2009 alone, our worker health program tested 29 300 union members, and counselled each of them on their HIV status.

Below is a summary of our mobile clinics road show plan:


Mobile 1:
15 - 16 Sep 10 Mpumalanga - Standerton Mills
17 Sep 10 Gauteng - Sesli Blankets
18 - 19 Sep 10 Gauteng - Southgate Mall, Johannesburg

20 Sep 10 Free State - Manhood & Blue Disa factories in Botshabelo

22 Sep 10 Cape Town - Hextex in Worcester
23 Sep 10 Western Cape - Cape Town
24 Sep 10 Kuils River

Community outreach 
27 Sep 10 Oudtshoorn



Mobile 2

14 Sep 10 Port Shepstone - Dirose Enterprises cc factory
16 Sep 10 King Williams Town - Pro Glove factory
17 Sep 10 East London - Service Products factory
18 Sep 10 East London - NY6 Mdantsane City Mall
20 Sep 10 Uitenhage - Transwerk
21 Sep 10 Jeffrey's Bay - Billabong Clothing factory

23 Sep 10 Western Cape /  Cape Town
24 Sep 10 Western Cape

Community outreach, Cape Town
27 Sep 10 Groot Brak River - Watson Footwear


Issued by
Andre Kriel
SACTWU
General Secretary

If further information is required, kindly contact Nikki Soboil, SACTWU Worker Health Program Director on cell number 082 449 30 29

Union owns stake in sweat shop

Union is accused of hypocrisy as local firms shed workers

The South African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union's (Sactwu's) role in enforcing minimum wages while it is heavily invested in a company that operates in Lesotho's low-wage economy has been slated as hypocritical.

Thousands of textile industry jobs in South Africa are on the line and hundreds of factories might close as a result of the Clothing Manufacturing Bargaining Council enforcing minimum pay agreements.

Sactwu has condemned noncompliance and it has called for prosecutions.

Fashion economist and analyst Renato Palmi of The ReDress Consultancy, said that Sactwu was the only union represented on the bargaining council and it would have an interest in seeing competition fold.

"It owns shares in Seardel, a major manufacturer which has been bleeding jobs and has a subsidiary in Lesotho.

"At the best it is a conflict of interest. To an outsider it looks like hypocrisy," Palmi said.

He explained that Sactwu, through its 40% share in investment company Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI), which owns 71% of Seardel, owns the subsidiary NyeNye Clothing in Lesotho.

Cosatu's provincial secretary in the Free State, Sam Mashinini, recently described wages in Lesotho as "pitiable".

"A South African worker should earn RI 296 a month, while the minimum wage in Lesotho is between R660 and R710 a month, depending on the job. That is not on," Mashinini said.

Seardel CEO Stuart Queen said NyeNye's employees in Lesotho represented less than 5% of the group's labour force, which had re-portedly dropped to just above 10 000 from the 15 000 Sactwu had sought to preserve.

Through investment company HCI it had rescued the Seardel group from getting "perilously close to being closed down altogether"' said Seardel chairperson John Copelyn.

In Seardel's 2009 annual report, Copelyn said "the general view in the market" that textiles might not be profitable in the future made it nearly impossible to raise funds except through HCI, at the behest of Sactwu, in 2008.

Sactwu general secretary Andre Kriel said that the investment, worth around R250 million, when no-one else was prepared to invest, had saved jobs.

"The point was not to make a profit. We remain proud and un-apologetic," he said. "NyeNye Clothing was established by the previous Seardel management pri¬or to the takeover, so Sactwu can¬not be accused of betraying local jobs," said Kriel.

"It pays above the legal minimum wage and complies with all other Lesotho labour laws. Our role, together with our Lesotho counterparts, is to advance our agenda for decent work in southern Africa, including in Lesotho!"Kriel said that "diminishing volumes, ever lower prices demanded by retail customers and customs fraud perpetrated by importers" were causing Seardel’s ongoing struggles.

The company announced in July that another division, Intimate Apparel, would be closing down, shedding another 800 jobs.

Queen confirmed that Seardel was in a 60-day consultation to see if a solution was possible. Seardel has, however, been widely quoted in the financial press as saying that retailers importing cheap products were making it impossible to continue profitably.

The division was likely to close by year-end.

The Bargaining Council's Leon Deetlefs defended the bargaining process as "sincere" and said there were too many role players on the council for anyone to influence the direction of decisions.

Alan Jarvis, chief executive director of Tern Sportswear, a division of Formosa Holdings, said it had shifted production to Lesotho and more factories would be forced to do so not only because of pay, but also productivity.

Earlier this year the massive Fo¬schini Group moved its business to Swaziland to take advantage of lower labour costs to compensate for a drop in sales during the reces¬sion.

Jarvis said the government in Lesotho was supportive and the union had engaged in shop-floor negotiations.

In Lesotho no-one pays below the minimum wage - but that minimum is R160 a week, whereas in South Africa the same job would pay R460 a week.

Trade and industry Minister Rob Davies this week launched the Clothing and Textile Competitiveness Programme, which has a production incentive that is aimed at improving competitiveness in South Africa as well as abroad.

Source:

The City Press, 19 September 2010

Written by: Anna-Maria Lombard

Workers prepared to work for peanuts

City Press: 12 September 2010
By: ANNAMARIA LOMBARD
South Africa
Workers prepared to work for peanuts

Employers say the choice is between low wages and closing factories
Cindy Mkhaliphi is faced with a dilemma shared by almost 8 000 other textile factory workers in Newcastle, KwaZuluNatal: earn peanuts or earn nothing. Her job is on the line as Newcastle’s economy teeters on a knife edge. Bosses of 65 textile companies – known as “cut, make and trim” factories – prepare for a final showdown with authorities enforcing minimum wage laws which they warn will close factory doors and cause nearly one third of the city’s 24 000 manufacturing jobs to be lost.

Clothing Bargaining Compliance_CITY PRESS
The ReDress Consultancy helped with this article.

Cosatu’s strategy for employment

A Growth Path towards Full Employment

Released by Cosatu

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Draft Discussion Document

Overall Approach and Structure of the Document

This document emerged from a process of engagement with all COSATU affiliates as a way to mobilize an input into the growth path process, and to consolidate COSATU's perspectives on various aspects of what should constitute a new growth path framework.

Click here to read the document.

Asia’s clothing industry rocked by wage strikes

The ReDress Consultancy reports:

Whilst South African retailers are contemplating having to place even more apparel procurement off-shore “because of the lingering uncertainty about the future of 386 local [South African] manufacturers who are not complying with minimum wages and labour standards,” Asian garment workers have taken to the streets demanding higher wages.

Cambodian Labour Confederation secretary general, Kong Athit said over 68000 workers from 53 factories have joined the strike whilst factory owners have denied another 52000 workers from participating in the national strike against the industry’s minimum wage. The secretary general for the Garment Manufacturers Association, Ken Loo, said the figures quoted by the labour orgnaisation were “vastly inflated.” A Cambodian labour activist, Moeun Tola blamed international brands for, “sinking Cambodian workers in low wages.”

Cambodian workers on strike

The labour unrest in the Asian garment sector has spread from China. Last month thousands of workers in Bangladesh demanding an increase in their wages from $43 to $72 a month clashed with police, whilst in April, Vietnamese workers went on strike at a shoe factory. The violent labour unrest in Bangladesh resulted in a negotiated wage increase which takes effect in November from $23 to $43 a month (the first increase in four years) however, workers continued with their strike action demanding that they get paid $75 a month.

There were 200 strike actions in Vietnam last year as workers had to grapple with inflation of 9 percent. In Indonesia, wages are steadily increasing. In 2008 minimum wages were set at $100 a month. In July,        40, 000 workers from various companies protested against rising electricity wages.

Labour activists in Cambodia say big brands such as, Gap, Nike and Wal Mart need to exert more pressure on their suppliers who are paying as little as $50 a month. The Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union says their members are seeking a $93 monthly wage, which, is a 50 percent increase from the $61 agreed in July under a four-year pact between government and several unions.

Even though the wages in these countries are considerably lower than China the consequence of this wave of unrest may result in these countries developing more infrastructure and competitive programmes in order to remain alternatives to China. These countries are realizing that they cannot remain competitive purely on low wage structures.

In 2009, nearly 30,000 jobs were lost in the Cambodian clothing sector due to a reduction in exports to America and Europe. The industry employs 300 000 people and is the third largest foreign currency earner. The outlook for 2010 looks slightly better with garment exports rising by 12% in the first half of this year resulting in $1.25 billion in exports.

In Burma, the reverse is happing. Wages and production have declined according to U Myint Soe, Chairman of the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association. Since late 2008, “Production has fallen by 30 percent … wages and production have declined since there is less demand for clothing around the world and clothing prices are falling [which] means less revenue for the producers,” he said. There are more than 120 garment factories in Burma and the workforce consists of mostly young girls who are recruited from the rural areas. They earn between $45 and $60 a month.

Written by The ReDress Consultancy

Reference:

http://www.wsws.org/
Reuters
http://www.socialistworker.org/
Financial Times Limited 2010

SACTWU CALLS FOR MEETING WITH SARU AND CSA TO EXPLORE LOCAL PROCURMENT FOR 2011 RUGBY AND CRICKET WORLD CUPS

9 SEPTEMBER 2010
PRESS RELEASE: IMMEDIATE



SACTWU CALLS FOR MEETING WITH SARU AND CSA TO EXPLORE LOCAL PROCURMENT FOR 2011 RUGBY AND CRICKET WORLD CUPS

The Southern African Clothing & Textile Workers’ Union (SACTWU) has today written to the President and CEO of the South African Rugby Union, as well as to the CEO of the Cricket South Africa, calling for meetings with each respectively, to discuss what steps these two sports organisations have taken to promote local procurement of South African clothing, textile and leather industry goods in light of 2011 cricket and rugby World Cups.

Next year, the Cricket World Cup will be held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and the rugby world cup in New Zealand. SACTWU has brought the following to the attention of SARU and CSA, in our letters to them:

Like the recent Fifa Soccer World Cup, the 2011 Cricket and Rugby World Cups are important moments for our country. As sports lovers, we will again stand behind and cheer for our national teams. Hopefully the enthusiasm which was displayed by all South Africans this year will be repeated, and our boys will do us proud next year.

These two World Cups are important for another reason too. It offers the opportunity to harness the power of sport for economic development and job creation. It offers the chance to address some of the critical structural fault lines in our country and fight unemployment, poverty and inequality. This is true in all contexts, but especially at the present moment, given the problems of the global economic crisis and the concomitant job losses.

Local procurement practices are central in this regard. In fact, in February 2009, this was acknowledged in the Framework for South Africa’s Response to the Global Economic Crisis, and agreed by government, business and labour at NEDLAC, the Framework Response unambiguously identifies the imperative to use sporting events as a means to create local jobs.

The union has requested to meet with CSA and SARU as soon as possible after 25 September 2010.


Issued by
Andre Kriel
SACTWU
General Secretary

Further links below re: sports clothing.
SAFA & FIFA Official Supporter Range: not 100% South African
How Many Springbok Jerseys Made in SA?

Illegal factories get reprieve

South Africa:
Johannesburg - The Bargaining Council for the Clothing Manufacturing Industry could possibly, with government’s blessing, shut down the 385-odd clothing factories that pay their workers less than the minimum wage.

To get some context of this debate read the following articles:
Read: "Clothing Labour Wages and Regulations-The great apparel debate"

Read: " The Great Stitch-Up"
 

Minimum-wage offenders are however given until next Wednesday to table an acceptable plan to raise the entire sector’s wages to the prescribed levels.

This ultimatum was presented in Pretoria at a meeting between the sector and the deputy directors-general of the departments of labour, trade and Industry as well as economic development, reported Leon Deetlefs, the council’s head of compliance.

Government was very forthright, he said.

The state would not tolerate minimum wage transgressions and the offenders had already been granted more than enough time.

The government officials, the council and clothing factory representatives breaking the law – particularly in non-metropolitan areas – must meet again on September 21, Deetlefs said.

Should no acceptable plan be presented, the factory closures will continue.

Last month the clothing bargaining council began a campaign to seize minimum wage offenders’ assets, a step that in practice could destroy a third of the sector and put 20 000 workers out on the street.

The campaign is intended to stop alleged large-scale unfair and illegal wage competition.

After 31 factories were closed down last month, a moratorium valid to the end of September was negotiated with the Free State government.

It is a virtual certainty that many of the factories breaking the law will not survive if they pay the minimum wage.

There is also no certainty as to how the wage dispute can be resolved, because the council has for years been attempting to force wage levels higher.

The council seizes factories’ assets to meet debts arising from wages owed to workers, as well as fines and the levies owed to the council itself.

Reference: Sake24.com

7 September 2010

The great stitch-up

The Big Read: President Jacob Zuma recently concluded talks with the Chinese on a number of issues, one of which was the strengthening of trade. From reports, it appears that South Africa is once again reluctant to proceed with a free-trade agreement, prompted mainly by its concerns about protecting vested interests in labour-intensive industries, primarily textiles and clothing.

" The unseen victims are the ordinary poor, who are forced to pay more for clothing " Jacob Zuma

Throughout the world, what bothers these industries is that Chinese manufacturers can produce clothing and textiles more cheaply than they. As a result, domestic manufacturers call on their governments for protections such as taxes on Chinese clothing and textiles or, in extreme cases, an outright ban on those Chinese goods. South African producers are one group among many struggling to compete with the Chinese and, like others elsewhere, are calling for the institution of myriad measures to protect "fragile" local industries.

In January 2007, the South African government introduced quotas restricting imports of Chinese textiles and clothing for two years. The quotas, or "safeguards" as they often have been called, were put in place to give manufacturers a window period in which to become more competitive. But, just as evidence in the past has shown, protected industries never become more efficient because the protection they are given takes away any incentive they might have had to become so. Instead, there are persistent appeals for the protection to be extended.

Therefore, in 2009, after the window period expired, it came as no surprise when industry bodies claimed that the quotas "have not made the struggling clothing and textile companies more competitive because the two-year period [was] too short for them to earn a return on investments in new machinery".

Quotas are a particularly damaging form of intervention because governments arbitrarily decide the level of control deemed necessary to protect local manufacturers, a task that no one can perform because of the dynamic nature of the demand for goods.

In the interim, poor consumers, those at the low end of the market, those who typically benefit from cheaper imports, have to pay higher prices for the goods they want.

Because quotas are not as transparent as a tariff, which is simply levied on goods entering the economy, they often open the door to corruption. Customs officials are given the power to decide which importers' goods will be allowed entry, and how much they will be entitled to import. Influential importers might receive preference over others. Moreover, quotas are set without any scope for changes in demand, and governments are usually slow to react to changing circumstances. Some importers, seeing the potential for filling a gap in the market, might resort to smuggling to accommodate the increased demand.

Subsidies and artificial barriers such as tariffs and quotas harm the majority of South African citizens. If the government really wants to help South African clothing and textiles manufacturers, without harming the rest of the country's citizens, it should make the environment in which the manufacturers operate more conducive to doing business. Taxes imposed on clothing and textiles manufacturers should be substantially reduced, as should the cost of doing business in South Africa.

Last week, the trade unions - the biggest proponents of protecting local industries to safeguard unionised local jobs - revealed their true colours, jeopardising the jobs of at least 9000 people by forcing 85 clothing manufacturers in the Newcastle area of northern KwaZulu-Natal to shut up shop. This was because the employers were not paying their workers the minimum wage of R324 a week, thus denying them "decent work".

But to be denied the right to work, in an area where, according to the Newcastle municipality, the unemployment rate is about 60%, is shameful.

To make matters worse, a further 386 non-compliant manufacturers have apparently been identified by the unions and competing clothing manufacturers. Their closure could affect as many as 15000 jobs.

Alex Liu, the chairman of the Newcastle Chinese Chamber of Commerce, said: "The lowest-paid worker in our factories earns R250 a week and the highest R500. But they are also demanding that we pay the minimum wage and it's impossible for us to do that because we are competing with imports from China and the [cut, make and trim] price from our customers will not sustain us if we paid R324 a week."

Trade unions in this country are not interested in ordinary South Africans. They lobby to protect unionised jobs from foreign imports even if it is at the expense of the poor. That is their job. Like any business, they try to maximise profits and the best way to do this is to protect their members from competition - be it foreign or local. The unseen victims are ordinary, poor South Africans who are forced to pay higher prices for clothing or remain idle with little or no understanding of why they can't get a job.

The government can't afford to heap highly concentrated benefits on a select few - it must start to think of the majority of South Africans, who benefit from cheap clothing, and allow those who want to work to do so under whatever conditions they choose.

Urbach is an economist for the Free Market Foundation. The views expressed in this article are the author's and not necessarily shared by the foundation

Reference: http://www.timeslive.co.za/
7 September 2010

Clothing Industry Labour Wages and Regulations

South Africa

Clothing Labour Wages and Regulations-The great apparel debate

6 September 2010

Opinion by The ReDress Consultancy

The ongoing sparring between apparel manufacturers in Newcastle, KZN, the Bargaining Council and the Southern African Clothing and Textiles Workers’ Union (Sactwu) has once again brought to the forefront an ongoing debate that has been percolating in the apparel sector for a long time. Having been intimately involved as a researcher, advisor and observer as well as being the media’s coordinator from the beginning I truly feel this impasse needs to be addressed as a collective for the industry to move forward.

After long deliberations, the decision, by the factory owners to shift the labour paradigm by implementing their own “strike action” achieved a semblance of success in that it brought the Bargaining Council and the union to the table, however, what the final outcome will be, in what is going to be a very protracted exercise, is questionable.

It is an extremely difficult situation the apparel and textile sector faces. Understandably, those companies who are paying the Bargaining Council regulated wages feel that those companies not paying should have no preferential treatment. On the other hand statistics show that there are many smaller companies who just cannot pay the regulated wages. What do we do? Shut them all down and shrink the industry even further? Or do we reevaluate the system? There is an urgent need for creative, intellectual, openness and honesty in approaching this situation from all the stakeholders.

“In September 2009 nearly 55 000 members of the Southern African Clothing and Textiles Workers Union (Sactwu) went on a national strike for wage increase. A year later over 5000 people according to the union lost their jobs in the first six months of 2010. Da Gama Textiles in the Eastern Cape have just retrenched 760 of its workers, and a further 1600 people in the Cape may soon be retrenched. In Newcastle, KwaZulu Natal, factory owners are battling with the union and the Bargaining Council to protect their business and thousands of jobs. Something is seriously wrong with the clothing and textile sector.

South Africa can ill afford the hemorrhaging of jobs in these industry sectors yet, precious time and energy is being spent because there seems to be no or very limited visionary leaders when it comes to finding flexible ways to navigate around the rigid mandates that are not aligned to current global and local economic and labour developments.

In August nine clothing factories were shut down in KZN because they were paying their workers way below the minimum wage regulations and a further nine face closure unless they meet the required wage level as determined by the Bargaining Council. Apparently the Bargaining Council has nearly 400 writs waiting to be implemented against companies.

What is ironic is that the KwaZulu-Natal department of economic development and tourism has managed to find R30 million to spend on retrenched textile workers in order to create co-operatives, while the Industrial Development Corporation has spent R70 million on four transactions within the textile and clothing sector during the 2008/2009 financial year.

Whilst policy development and incentive schemes from government and the Industrial Development Corporation must be applauded there is a need for statistical evidence that can show the extent these intervention schemes have helped with job security, industry/company growth and production output that contributes to the South African economy.

Both the Bargaining Council and the clothing union have to follow their mandates, and it is acknowledged, that they are in place to protect workers from exploitation. Any company that is paying way below minimum wages must be challenged and either given the opportunity to up the wages or be forced to close.

However, if companies are paying just below the wage limits because of trade conditions surely there can be some flexibility? The Bargaining Council and union face a cross-roads as well as the industry as there are companies that are meeting Bargaining Council regulations however the number of non-compliant companies are far more than compliant companies. This leads to the conclusion that maybe this is the time to reevaluate the wage structures to find equable solutions that benefits everyone.

It cannot be disputed that our textile and clothing sectors are in a prolonged crisis and while reams of paper is used on developing policies and hours spent on discussions and workshops there seems to be a lack of a coordinated inclusive strategy. In this melee we are forgetting the workers, whose lives are affected by the decisions made in higher offices. Everyone seems to be speaking on their behalf and determining what is a fair and not fair wage. Should not these decisions be left to them?”

Written by: Renato Palmi

The opinions expressed are those of Renato Palmi and they are written not to criticize but to create a space for dialogue.