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SACTWU to fight for RSA workers' COVID-19 relief payouts

10 Jul '20

2 min read

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Based on a snap survey, the Southern African Clothing & Textile Workers’ Union (SACTWU) recently expressed deep concern over the possibility of thousands of clothing, textile, footwear and leather industry workers missing out on Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) Coronavirus Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (COVID-19 TERS) payments.

The survey was urgently completed in anticipation that the UIF might soon announce a closure date for April 2020 UIF relief fund applications. The UIF has recently publically indicated its desire to do so to bring more certainty to the quantum of claims still to be processed, according to a press release from SACTWU.

Our snap survey shows that employers from about 300 workplaces in the industry, jointly employing about 7 500 workers, might not have applied for UIF COVID-19 relief funding at all. These are mainly smaller enterprises but which nevertheless, combined, employ thousands of workers.

The trade union will now directly approach these employers to ascertain the exact reasons why many of them have failed to make the necessary applications for UIF relief funding on behalf of their employees. It will be a complete disaster if several thousands of workers miss out on what is rightly due to them, simply because a few employers are not doing what they are required by law to do.

This problem is compounded by the fact that many workers are already expressing deep concerns about very serious delays in the receipt of UIF payments and, in some instances, incorrect payments, the trade body said.

Over the next few days, SACTWU will intensify its efforts to ensure that every qualifying company in our industry has actually applied for UIF COVID-19 TERS relief funding, for their workers.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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