September 1989, South African mega clothing union formed.

September 1989, South African mega clothing union formed.

Researched by The ReDress Consultancy

In September 1989, Sactwu was formed and one of its priorities was the formation of a bargaining council which only happened in 2002. In 2005 the department of labour initially said that the bargaining council was not representative of the industry and therefore agreements could not be automatically extended to non-parties. For some reason this was over thrown and judgment was made that the bargaining council was representative.

In September 1989, the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (Sactwu) was officially formed. Formed from “Cosatu’s Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Actwusa) and the Garment and Allied Workers Union (Gwau),”  it created with its 185000 members the third largest union in South Africa. Absorbed into the new union was the National Union of Clothing Workers. The first elected general secretary was Lionel October, with John Copelyn being elected as his “assistant.”  The union said one of the first issues on its agenda was the demand for centralized bargaining, “which employers are said to be resisting.” [1

The new union said it consist[ed] of about “70 percent of the labour force in the clothing and textile industry [and will be] incorporating the leather industry.”  Newspaper reports at the time said that the union’s links with the Mass Democratic Movement will have a “major influence in extra-parliamentary resistance.”[2]

Further media reports stated the emergence of Sactwu brought a new level of non-racial unity to the labour movement. “A new spirit of non-racism will be brought into Costatu,” said one report, “When Cosatu’s Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union of SA and the Garment and Allied Workers Union merge.“ Actwu’s membership of 72408 consisted mainly Africans while Gawu’s 105 500 members were made up of Indian and Coloured laobur. Cosatu said the merger meant that “over 80 percent of the clothing and textile sector [would now be organised by Cosatu].” It was reaffirmed that the “struggle for a single national industrial council to make sure that all it members in all regions have the same wages and working condition,” was a priority.[3

However, the “struggle” for a centralized bargaining council for the clothing sector took many years, as the “historic deal to establish a national bargaining council for all clothing manufacturers was only signed on the 14 May 2002.  The deal between Sactwu and seven regional clothing employer associations,” paved the way to regulate 120 000 workers in the sector. The announcement of the bargaining council stated that equal number of trade unions and employer delegates would be represented and it would have the power to “negotiate agreements for the entire industry.”  However, the announcement was met with some resistance from CMT operators who said such a bargaining system would put “small firms out of business.” [4]

The bargaining council’s first major legal judgment against a clothing employer in April 2005 was against a Newcastle company, Nova Clothing. Leon Deetlefs, the national compliance manager, said “several employers in the Newcastle area would face the same fate in the weeks ahead.” The owner of Nova Clothing was sentenced to 15 days in prison or a fine of R10 000, suspended for two years on condition that the company compl[ied] with the arbitration award handed down in 2004;[5]

Reports in July 2005, stated that the future of the “clothing industry’s national bargaining council [hanged] in the balance,” due to questions about its representativeness within the industry. Apparently, the director-general of the department of labour wrote a letter to the bargaining council saying, “this office does not see its way clear to recommend to the registrar that he issues the council with a certificate of representativeness.”  According to the LRA, the council must be representativeness for agreements to be extended to non-parties.  According to the then CMT Employers’ Organisation, the bargaining council only represented 34 percent of employers in the industry and not 44 percent the department had calculated. [6;

Clearly political pressure was  placed on the  department of labour, or calculation of “representativeness” was re calibrated, for in September  2005, the registrar of labour declared the national bargaining council for the clothing industry had the right to be representative of employees in the industry, this cleared the way for the labour minister, Membathisi Mdadlana to automatically extend bargaining council agreements to companies whose employer “ organisations are not registered with council.” 7]

Eleven years later a new clothing employer organisation and a number of companies have served legal papers against the minister of labour and the bargaining council claiming that the automatic extension to non-parties is unconstitutional.

1 “Super-union will make impact on industry,” The Star, 19 September 1989

[2 “Textile unions merge to form powerful trade union,” Weekly Mail, 22 September 1989

[3  “Non-racial unity in new merger,” New Nation, 21 September 1989

4 “Textile sector weaves bargaining council,” The Star, 15 May 2002

[5; “Bargaining council  to spread legal net,” The Star, 20 April 2004

[6; “Clothing council hangs in the balance,” Sunday Tribune, 24 July 2005

;[7; “Ruling on clothing council clears way for Mdladlana,” The Star, 28 September 2005