Textile firms threaten to reject wage hike

21 May '11

2 min read

Ahmed Paruk, Chairman of the United Clothing and Textiles Association (UCTA) recently said that, the association has decided that till the row over the minimum wage gets settled, they would not accept the results of the new wage negotiations going on at the Bargaining Council.

Other employer associations in the industry have also taken similar stand, he said.

Pharuk said that unless the issues in respect of with regards to the old minimum wage gets settled they cannot accept the new wage.

Since last year, a row is going on between the UCTA and the Bargaining Council over minimum wage payment, which was raised to R336 per week in April this year. Pursuant to a decision that the firms should start paying as per the new wage structure, the Bargaining Council has been coming down heavily on non-compliant factories.

Last month onwards, the Council has been scrutinizing 416 non-compliant units and even closed down some of these units, some of which have reopened. 300 of these non-compliant firms are represented by the UCTA.

The non-compliant units all together employ over 14,500 workers.

During last financial year it was decided that, the units should start paying the new minimum weekly wage of R336 from April 2011, which may subsequently be raised to R465 towards close of the year and to R516 by April 2012.

However, Pharuk revealed that the UCTA lawyers have sought more information from the Bargaining Council on compliance assessments.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India