We can’t afford 34.5% raise for workers – textile firms
MANZINI – As the textile and apparel sector is hit by a number of challenges, some employers say they cannot afford the 34.5 per cent hike proposed by employees.
The Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland (ATUSWA), which negotiates on behalf of about 22 000 workers in the textile industry and others in the manufacturing and processing sector, in April presented its position paper wherein they demanded that the least paid workers in the textile and apparel sector should earn E3 232 per month.
Currently, on average, textile workers are paid E2 400 per month (34.6 per cent). ATUSWA Secretary General Wander Mkhonza informed this publication that they were not expecting their members to be paid less than E15 per hour.
Currently, the least paid employee in the textile and apparel sector under Category I, earns E7.11/h. These are casual labourer, learner, learner mechanic A and learner sewing machinist A.
The union wants this category to be removed from the sector such that the entry level of the industry is category II, wherein an employee currently earns E9.51 per hour.
The proposed E15 per hour would mean that employers shall pay 36.6 per cent more. Employees in this category are; cleaner, learner mechanic B, fusers, labourer, hand trimmer, inline examiner, layer-up, packer, inline presser, and sorter. The category also include; screen printer, washer, soberer and learner sewing machinist B.
On the other hand, employers shall next Tuesday tender their position. It has been established by this publication that some of them claimed that the demands tabled by the employees were steep, given that the industry was marred by challenges.
Demands
They claimed that they were willing to offer the demands tendered by the union in the near future; however, at the moment there were minimal sales due to developments in South Africa.
They claimed that following the rotational availability of electricity in South Africa, sales had declined and they were barely breaking even. The employers, who spoke to this publication, claimed that giving into the demand would lead to many employees losing employment.
This, they said, was because they would struggle to meet all their financial obligations. The employers claimed that retaining the offer that was extended last year would, in the interim, ensure that they were able to retain their staff until the market altered for the better.
It is worth noting that this publication in the first week of the month reported that the ongoing load-shedding in South Africa had the local textile industry under strain as sales plummet. The sales were said to be on a downward trail since last year following the implementation of load-shedding in South Africa as means to ease the strain on their power grid.
Sources within the textile industry said the impact of the load-shedding
by South Africa’s utility, Eskom, was hitting hard on them as it resulted in malls limiting their operating hours.
This was said to translate to limited activity in selling of textile and apparel products, some of which are produced in the Kingdom of Eswatini. Powerhouses in the sector, who are clients of local firms, such as the Foschini Group (TFG) reported a loss of more than 100 000 trading hours in January and February due to load-shedding, contributing to an estimated E1 billion.
Subsidised
The local industry players said the challenge was not unique to Eswatini but also South African factories were experiencing it. They said what was hitting them hard was that, unlike South African factories, their sector was not subsidised.
In South Africa, the government is reviving its textile and apparel sector industry with its Rebate system. This, the textile and unparallel manufacturers said, meant it was cheaper for their customers to place orders with the textile factories in South Africa.
The South African Rebate system, which was gazetted on March 5, 2021, is aimed at bolstering garment manufacturing in small, medium and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs) and to save jobs in the textile and garments industry by reducing the costs of input materials in the neighbouring country.
Despite these challenges raised by the employers, Mkhonza in April informed this publication that their demand ranged between E808 to E900 per week, which was between E3 232 and E3 600 per month, respectively.