TEXTILE UNIONS START E3 500 WAGE TALKS

MANZINI - As TUCOSWA’s call for a national minimum wage of E3 500 gets louder, textile and apparel sector workers demand just that and ATUSWA is responding positively.

The workers in the sector said since their salaries were due to be reviewed this year, their expectation was that they would at least be paid a minimum of E3 500/month. In response to the textile workers’ the Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland (ATUSWA) seems to be determined to push the agenda of the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) as it has already begun talks with a number of textile factories over the improved working conditions. This includes the issue of a salary that could match the proposed national minimum wage (E3 500).

An investigation which was carried out by this publication last week, revealed that ATUSWA initiated the process during the month of December 2019 as it sent a correspondence to a number of textile factories and invited to talks. The factories include Fashion International (PTY) Ltd, Zheng Yong (SWD) (PTY) Ltd, Juries Manufacturing (PTY) Ltd and Kasumi Apparels Swaziland (Pty) Ltd. Others are FTM Garments Swaziland (Pty) Ltd and Ho’s Enterprise (Pty) Ltd. This publication gathered that ATUISWA uses a collective agreement which was entered to by the factories and the unions on September 25, 2019, where they agreed to go to a round table to discuss the welfare of the workers in the industry.

Following the invitation to meet, it was gathered that the parties agreed to meet on Wednesday. However, ATUSWA had already engaged some of the aforementioned textile factories and tabled its demands. In its demands, ATUSWA demanded a minimum wage for all workers shall be E15 per hour. In a month, this amount could be slightly above the national minimum wage, which is proposed by TUCOSWA. Again, the trade union also demands that all textile workers who leave employment on or after 10 years of continuous service with the same employer should be entitled to terminal benefits.

“All workers who have been in continuous employment with the same employer are entitled to a contributory family funeral cover, wherein the employer would contribute 75 per cent and the employee contributes 25 per cent,” reads part of the trade union demands to textile and apparel industry. Once more, the trade union demands that textile and apparel employers should ensure provision of safe and affordable housing to their employees. “Alternatively, the employers in the sector should pay the workers a housing allowance of at least E400 per month,” reads part of the demands.

Furthermore, the amalgamation also demanded that supervisors should not earn more than 25 per cent of the rate of the highest paid employee under her/his supervision. It is also want all employees who have been in continuous employment for 12 months to be entitled to an annual bonus, equivalent to 22 days wages and that they should have a minimum of 45 minutes lunch break per day.

ATUSWA Secretary General Wonder Mkhonza confirmed the developments. In fact, he said talks with other companies like Giant Clothing were at an advanced stage. He added that in their demands, they also want lines of communication between ATUSWA and textile and apparel industry employers to be always open.

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