clothing firm fined R4.1m
15 July 2008
 
Rowmoor, a clothing company in Qwa-qwa, has been fined R4.1-million in an arbitration over its failure to pay its workers the annual bonuses, outstanding wages and annual leave pay last December. And the next month the company advised their staff that all employees were placed on short time.  The union complained to the national bargaining council for the industry who took legal action. The Southern African Clothing & Textile Workers' Union (Sactwu) joined the action which was settled in arbitration.

According to the union in a statement issued on Tuesday the financial compensation awarded by the arbitrator is the biggest ever amount made in the industry. The R4.1-millions included legal costs. Andre Kriel, deputy general secretary of the union pointed out that the award also establishes some potential precedent setting legal principles on short time, including that the imposition must be preceded by proper consultation with the trade union.

There should be meaningful engagement based on the release of relevant information that would enable the union to engage effectively in consultation, and short time is intended to be only a temporary measure setting six weeks as a time period guideline.

Michael Hamlyn,  I-Net Bridge,  http://business.iafrica.com