The Southern African Clothing & Textile Workers’ Union (SACTWU) has settled its 2020 round of wage negotiations in the clothing industry. Nearly 70 000 clothing workers in the country are expected to benefit from this collective agreement. The negotiations and union mandating process were extremely difficult, mainly because of the restrictive but necessary lockdown conditions.
Then union is affiliated to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).The Southern African Clothing & Textile Workers' Union has settled its 2020 round of wage negotiations in the clothing industry. Nearly 70 000 clothing workers in the country are expected to benefit from this agreement. The negotiations and union mandating process were extremely difficult, mainly because of the restrictive lockdown conditions.#
These wage negotiations commenced on August 6 this year, and were entirely conducted on a virtual platform under the auspices of the National Bargaining Council for the Clothing Manufacturing Industry.
Following a deadlock, the union declared a formal dispute on September 10. Five rounds of conciliation meetings took place subsequently, when the parties attempted to resolve the dispute, according to a press release from SACTWU.
The dispute was finally resolved when a collective agreement was ratified at a special council meeting of the bargaining council. The new collective agreement was concluded between SACTWU, the Apparel & Textile Association of South Africa (ATASA), the South African Apparel Association (SAAA) and the Transvaal Clothing Manufacturers Association (TCMA).
The final settlement provides for a wage increase of 3.7 per cent with effect from March 1, 2021, and a further 4.2 per cent increase with effect from September 1.
In addition, the agreement provides for an additional day's wages as part of the annual leave payments, payable in December this year, to all clothing industry employees.
The agreement will now be submitted to the department of employment and labour, for gazette notification and extension to cover all clothing employers and workers in the whole of the South Africa.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
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