The Southern African Clothing & Textile Workers Union (SACTWU) is gathered in Cape Town for its bi-annual Bargaining Conference. This, as the country is slowly emerging from the havoc that the global COVID-19 pandemic caused for millions of workers.
Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi addressed the shop stewards on the proposed Labour Migration Act that is currently out for public comment. It is one of the industries that were all but decimated as a result of cheap global imports.
The textile and clothing sector bled tens of thousands of jobs. But there are continued challenges. The latest is the global pandemic.
SACTWU says it has also been hit hard by the cheap employment of foreign nationals at rates that are not within the confines of the labour law.
Minister Nxesi has outlined what the proposed Act entails. Among those are major fines for employers that transgress a planned quota system that will determine how many foreign nationals may be employed in a certain sector.
Another proposal is that foreign nationals must be employed within the ambit of the law, not for less pay and no benefits as it’s currently the case in many sectors.
Minister Thulas Nxesi explains, “Before we finalise that we have to listen to what the public and the different stakeholders are saying in relation to that. But the most important part of this policy is to balance the expectations of the South Africans who feel that they are pressurized by the high unemployment and the perception because it’s a perception that foreigners are taking their jobs, and how do we balance that with the rights of everybody including our obligations and the protocols we have signed as a country in SADEC, in the AU and even the bodies like the United Nations and the INO and we need therefore to keep a balance amongst those. Hence, we are talking about how to regulate this properly, constructively, by putting some sort of quotas in dealing with this particular matter.”
Nxesi says employers who exploit foreign nationals who are desperate are distorting the labour market. Harsh punishment, including stiff fines for those who transgress, is also on the cards.
Gathered in Cape Town, SACTWU shop stewards brought the demands and views from employees across this sector. But given the current economic climate, there might be difficulties ahead.
“It is always between the employers and the labour movement, if we engage with these issues it’s not necessarily destroying the industry. We must find the balance at the same time we must make sure that we are a responsible organisation in terms of creating employment, at the same time we must also understand that we represent the poor of the poorest, the working class. So at some point, we must find that balance. It is important to do that,” defends SACTWU’s deputy secretary general, Membinkosi Vilina.
The expected astronomical rise in fuel costs, a result of the conflict in Ukraine will add greater pressure. Nxesi says this bargaining season could result in difficult trade-offs.
“If you faced with monetary constraints, even in your own household, there are certain things you are going to sacrifice and I’m saying there needs to be sacrifice, but not sacrifice that’s by not only workers. Sacrifice by all, for instance, we are saying the fuel crises we are facing now, it’s imposed by an international situation. So how do we have to deal with it in the midst of the 30 million unemployed? So it’s a fine balancing act, a very difficult one,” Nxesi adds.
SACTWU will emerge from the bargaining conference with national demand for the workers.
