TEXTILE WORKERS THREATEN TO STRIKE FOR 25% PAY RISE

MANZINI – Textile workers anticipate staging a major strike to demand at least 25 per cent salary increment.

The workers said they wanted 25 per cent salary increment because they last received a better salary raise in 2008 and that was after they engaged in a protest action, which lasted for three weeks. They were awarded a better increment of 10 per cent.
They said they had been getting an average of five per cent salary increment, something which they view as an insult because the increase was equivalent to E0.14 cents per hour, E1.26 per day and E12.60 per fortnight.

They want to engage in the strike anytime within the first quarter of the year.
This is the period when their increment would be negotiated.  Their gazette is usually released during the month of March.
Their main argument is that the round table negotiations were not doing them any good because their representatives were not consulting with them.
“We have resolved to take it to the street because it worked for us the last time we did it in 2008,” said one of the workers’ union members who preferred to remain anonymous.

She said the decision was taken in one of the meetings they had where they deliberated about the matter.
In fact, they said the strike was long overdue because they had spent so many years getting peanuts.

They based their reasoning for the strike action on the fact that prices for basic needs and commodities have been increasing rapidly over the years and life was difficult for them.
Meanwhile, Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland (ATUSWA) Deputy Secretary General Zweli Sihlongonyane said they were aware of the frustration faced by their members. He said it was true that they were struggling to sustain themselves and their families with the money they earned.

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