Union signs two-year clothing wage deal

Johannesburg - A wage agreement in the clothing industry was signed in Cape Town on Monday, the SA Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) said.

"The new wage agreement was adopted by and signed at a Special Council meeting of the clothing industry bargaining council, earlier today [Monday]," general secretary Andre Kriel said in a statement.

The two-year agreement would be submitted to the labour ministry to be gazetted.

"Approximately 80 000 clothing workers nationally will benefit from the agreement," he said. General workers would receive increases of between 7.5% and 10% according to the geographical area in which they worked.

In the Western Cape and Gauteng, employers in metro areas would pay an extra 0.5% towards provident funds. For metros in other provinces, the extra 0.5% would go towards improving workers' the annual bonus.

In the second year, increases would be Consumer Price Index (CPI) as of November plus one percent.

If CPI was higher than 8.5%, wage negotiations would re-open.

"Should it be less than 8.5%, the actual increases shall be firstly CPI plus one percent but no less than the Rand value of the 2014 total labour cost increase."