RUSTENBURG, July 17 (ANA) - A strike was looming in the clothing sector after the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (Sactwu) declared a national wage dispute, the union said on Tuesday.
General secretary Andre Kriel said the dispute had been declared after the trade union and clothing industry employers could not reach a wage settlement after three rounds of wage negotiations.
"The dispute was formally declared on the afternoon of Thursday 12 July 2018. Clothing employers are offering a seven percent wage increase and our members are demanding an eight percent package increase for metro areas and 8.5% for non-metro areas.
"Our members have rejected the employers' final offer of a seven percent wage increase,"Kriel said in a statement.
He said they had written to the National Bargaining Council for the Clothing Manufacturing Industry (NBC) and requested its general secretary, Sicelo Nduna, to process the dispute as per the requirements of the Clothing Bargaining Council's constitution.
He said the Labour Relations Act (LRA) required them to refer the dispute to the bargaining council, which they had now complied with.
"The next step in the process is conciliation, and the law states that it is the duty of the bargaining council general secretary to set up the conciliation. The clothing sector is the largest organised sector within our trade union," said Kriel.
"If clothing employers do not concede to our final demands during conciliation, it will mean that the deadlock would remain unresolved. We will, in that event, conduct a strike ballot in the clothing industry. This means that 60 000 clothing workers might embark on a wage strike."
A date for conciliation has not yet been released.
Meanwhile Sactwu has settled wage negotiations in the general goods and handbags and for the tanning leather sectors, respectively.
"Our members in the tanning leather sector will receive a 7.75 percent wage increase. Members in the General Goods and Handbags leather sector will receive an eight percent wage increase."
The increases were due retrospectively to July 1, 2018.
