Clothing workers return to work

SA Clothing and Textile Workers Union general secretary Andre Kriel said a snap survey of 72 out of 92 Cape Clothing Association member companies in the Western Cape showed that average attendance at work was 71% on Wednesday.

On Tuesday night a recommended settlement over a clothing industry wage dispute was reached during a CCMA-facilitated session in Cape Town.

Workers were then asked to return to work while a mandate was sought on whether to accept the settlement, a process Kriel said was about 40% complete and should be finished by Thursday evening.

"An announcement will be made on Friday morning whether or not the strike is settled."

On Wednesday, 44 factories had between 80% and all employees back at work. There was between 50% and 80% attendance at 10 factories and at 18 factories less than half the workers returned to work.

"This is a remarkably quick response to the union's call to return to work, given that call was only made late last night," said Kriel.

He said similar surveys of attendance would be conducted on Thursday.

If the recommended settlement is accepted it would see an end to a 10 day national wage strike by 55,000 clothing industry workers.

The union had been demanding a 7.9% increase, with paid sick leave and bigger increases for workers in rural areas who are the lowest paid in the industry.

The employer had previously offered Sactwu an 8% wage offer with "conditions" which the union did not accept at the time.

On Tuesday night, Kriel said the union's negotiating team believed the recommended settlement "addresses all the core issues".

Source: Sapa

Published courtesy of