Clothing workers end 'warning' strike

Johannesburg - Ten thousand textile workers ended a two-day strike on Wednesday, which a major union described as a warning to employers who continue paying wages below the government prescribed rates.

"We only wished it to be a warning to employers who fail to obey the law and who continue to underpay our members," the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (Sactwu) said in a statement.

According the union, some employers were paying workers far below the government allowed weekly minimum rate of R414.

The union demanded "immediate compliance with the legally prescribed minimum wage".

South Africa has a relatively small textile sector, with firms are concentrated in the Western Cape and the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal.

The country has entered a bruising wage bargaining season, which normally results in thousands of workers from various sectors taking to the streets over pay disputes.

The mining sector and the public service are usually the hardest hit.