NEDLAC HOLDS SECOND MEETING TO CONSIDER TEXTILES AND CLOTHING NOTICE

A second meeting was held at Nedlac today to consider the notice of possible protest action tabled by the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) regarding the future of the textile, clothing and footwear sector.

The notice was served in terms of s77(1)(b) ofthe Labour Relations Act, which gives workers the right to embark on protest action to promote and protect their social and economic interests, if they follow certain procedures. Nedlac is required to consider the notice with a view to resolving the matter through a process of facilitation.

The broad reasons tabled by Sactwu as motivation for the intended protest action are job losses, retrenchments and factory closures in theclothing, textile and leather industries and supply chain caused by a range of trade policies, other government policies and sourcing decisions by retailers.

At a meeting of Nedlac's standing committee on Section 77 notices, which was attended by representatives from government, employer federations and Sactwu,

It was agreed that a further meeting would be held on Wednesday 11 August. Before that meeting, government and Sactwu committed themselves to meeting bilaterally in order to further discuss the issues and report back to the Section 77 Standing Committee next week.