SACTWU settles wage agreement for labour with disabilities

The settlement covers a wage increase, improvements in employer retirement fund contribution levels, the introduction of a housing allowance and some important trade union organisational rights advances.

The details include a 6% wage increase, a 1% increase in employer contributions towards the provident fund, housing allowance of R300 per month for factory workers, an implementation of medical aid employer contribution for factory workers and an additional 5 cent per week per employee increase in employer contributions towards the SACTWU Worker Health Project’s HIV and Aids awareness campaign. The agreement will be implemented at the end of this month.

SACTWU is the majority trade union in the Sheltered Employment sector. This sector is also known as the ‘distressed sector’.  It employs people with disabilities.

In the light of the recent brutal assault on Mr Nono, the blind busker from Cape Town, we hope to make an emphatic statement with this agreement that the rights of workers with disabilities must be respected. We dedicate this agreement to him and pledge to broaden our struggle for decent work and proper worker rights for all workers with disabilities.

Ownership of the Sheltered Employment factories lies with the state and is managed by the Department of Labour (DOL). These factories, of which there are 13 nationally in 7 out of our 9 provinces, have the manufacturing capability of producing 3 000 different types of products in industries which include furniture, textiles, metal work, leather work, canvas work, book binding and screen printing.

Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union