South Africa
Comments by The ReDress Consultancy
It just gets more confusing.
The media and communications strategy of the concerned parties need urgent attention and I implore South Africa’s media to begin to excavate and unbundle broad sweeping statements made by the union and even industry bodies and do background research to verify such statements or ask for evidence.
The ReDress Consultancy has consistently reflected on the various contradictions in regard to the wage debacle made public through media outlets. Public opinion and even industry development as well as relationships between labour and industry is based and formulated through public discourse via the conduit of the media.
This article hints that UCTA has been invited to the negotiating table even though it is not yet registered. This contradicts the union’s previous statement that only when UCTA is a registered body will the union contemplate any formal engagement.
The consistent claim by the union that clothing companies that fall under the auspicious of the UCTA and in particular clothing companies based in New Castle are paying workers R150 to R250 a week requires investigation by the media. The union has been asked repeatedly by The ReDress Consultancy to provide evidence and not only name the companies but indicate where they are located. However, we have not seen any evidence of these claims made public. This is where investigative journalism comes into play.
The Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) is set to make its case for an 8% to 15% wage increase when it meets the employer bodies today at the industry’s bargaining council in Durban. “We have entered into a facilitation processes with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and we will be tabling our demands today.
“Part of our demands include wage increases, improvement of social benefits, provident funds and annual bonuses,” Wayne van der Rheede, Sactwu’s deputy general secretary, told The New Age yesterday. “We are prepared and ready to negotiate in line with the mandates we received from our members. It will be a give and take situation and we believe we will make progress regarding that,” he said.
Sactwu represents the interests of more than 100000 clothing and textile workers nationwide. Van der Rheede described last year’s settlements – 6.5% for workers in urban areas and 14% allocated to those in urban areas – as an inflation plus-based settlement, that worked favourably for workers and their needs.
“This year, we will push for 8% for metro workers and 15% for non-metro workers,” he said. The union was expected to discuss its proposal with the employer bodies – the Apparel Manufacturers of SA (Amsa), the Coastal Clothing Manufacturers Association and the United Clothing and Textile Association (UCTA).
This is despite protests by the Durban-based UCTA that it would boycott the outcome of the new wage negotiations because the old minimum wage dispute was not resolved. The UCTA and the bargaining council have clashed since last year over the payment of a minimum wage. The bargaining council has been cracking down on noncompliant factories after a decision to allow these companies to phase in compliance.
Yesterday, UCTA chairperson Ahmed Paruk demanded the suspension of the negotiations, arguing that the association’s 300 members were not happy with the government’s phase-in compliance policy and could not afford the proposed new wage. “I am saying let us come to a table and find a common ground about last year’s resolutions, otherwise we won’t be taking part in today’s negotiations,” he said.
According to Paruk, the government is demanding noncompliant factories to now be 70% compliant, 90% compliant by the end of the year, and 100% compliant in 2012. “This industry does not allow us to come to that level,” he said.
He concurred that most UCTA members could not meet the terms of the government’s phase-in compliance policy and have submitted documents to the Department of Labour raising such concerns.
Van der Rheede said Sactwu was not moved by UCTA’s position and the negotiations would go ahead without them. “Of course, we are not worried about their position. They are representing a bunch of noncompliant factories that are not paying workers minimum wages. UCTA members are exploiting workers by paying them R150 to R250 per week,” he said.
He said in terms of the labour regulations, a minimum wage for qualified clothing machinery workers in rural areas should at least be R489 per week, and R740 for a machinery worker in an urban area.
But Paruk insisted yesterday that worker salaries in South Africa were better than those in countries such as Lesotho. “The industry’s wage in Lesotho is R850 per month and here in Durban, we are paying urban workers R450 per week, and R280 for non-urban workers.
“UCTA believes that if action is taken against the hundreds of clothing companies that cannot meet the terms of the phase-in compliance policy, thousands more people will find themselves unemployed and the financial consequences will prove to be devastating to families, communities and the local and national economy,” he said.
Paruk said the UCTA was formed to bring together, under one umbrella organisation, the various national clothing and textile organisations and allow this sector, which is noncompliant, to speak and engage with labour, government and within the industry as a unified collective. “The UCTA feels that it has a legitimate voice and wishes to have meaningful dialogue with Sactwu and the national bargaining council for the clothing manufacturing industry, and its priority is to find an equitable and sustainable solution to the current phase-in compliance policy,” he said.
The UCTA chairperson said he believed the sector could contribute to sustainable manufacturing output, create employment opportunities and skills development and have a meaningful contribution to the economy, if it was allowed to operate “unburdened by polices” that had a detrimental effect on its operational abilities.
Amsa and the clothing manufacturers association could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
Reference The New Age, 19 May 2011
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