Collective deal stitched up for clothing firms
Bargaining council ratifies agreement
THE National Bargaining Council for the Clothing Manufacturing Industry has ratified South Africa’s first Covid19 personal protection equipment (PPE) and essential products collective agreement.
The agreement’s immediate objective is to galvanise the industry’s manufacturing capacity to produce a target of 100 million fabric face masks, said Marthie Raphael, chairperson of the National Bargaining Council for the Clothing Manufacturing Industry.
Raphael said the collective agreement has set out, as its primary objective, to ensure that the South African Clothing Manufacturing Industry contributes constructively to combating the spread of Covid-19, by assisting in providing anti-Covid-19 front-line combatants with quality PPE and other essential products, manufactured under decent employment conditions.
“In addition, the production of other essential products, such as babyand winter wear, will be significantly ramped up,” Raphael said.
The agreement also provides for significant expansion into other essential medical personal protective equipment, including the production of N95 and equivalent medical masks, medical staff uniforms and medical safety gloves, among others.
“The agreement provides for workplaces to be re-purposed, and to provide protection for employees through anti-Covid-19 Customised Workplace Plans, including appropriate social distancing production and hours work re-structuring,” Raphael added.
The use of locally manufactured textile fabric will be a priority.
The agreement also condemned recent attempts to politicise PPE and called for the production of PPE’s to promote national symbols like the South African flag.
“Participating companies will be required to adhere to prescribed product manufacturing standards, such as the “Recommended Guidelines for Fabric Face Mask Manufacturing” issued by the Department of Trade and Industry on April 9.
Meanwhile, Cape Town’s Presidential Group has turned its Lontana Apparel Factory in Gardens into a mask manufacturer.
The non-medical PPE masks are being supplied to organisations and companies with essential workers throughout South Africa.
Demand for masks has been exceeding supply, with Presidential employing a night shift for the first time. Sixty people are being employed and further work has been shared with selected local CMT manufacturers, with more than 200 more people making masks.
“We have experienced machinists, used to making high-quality shirts to very exact specifications so I had no concern about their ability to rise to the challenge,” said Presidential Group chief executive Robert Sim.
Additional safety measures have been put in place, with the whole factory disinfected twice a day, tables three times a shift, mandatory shoe baths, basins and hand sanitisers before entering.