Times Of Swaziland: 1 450 JOBS TO BE  LOST AT TEX RAY

1 450 JOBS TO BE  LOST AT TEX RAY
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BY SIBUSISO ZWANE on 22/10/2014 05:02:00


MATSAPHA – The Tex Ray factory is set to retrench all its 1 450 workers by
November 5, 2014 and close down following the country’s loss of AGOA.
This is contained in a letter of notice that was written by the factory Manager
Lisa Chang to the Swaziland Manufacturing and Allied Workers Union (SMAWU) and
Labour Commissioner Khabonina Dlamini.
The letter, which is dated October 8, 2014 and titled; ‘Re: Notice of
intention to retrench in terms of Section 40 of the Employment Act 1980, read
together with clause 11.6 of the recognition and procedural agreement’, was
sent to the union yesterday. The letter said following the removal of the
country from beneficiaries of the Africa Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) with
effect from January 2015, the company was unfortunately the bearer of the
negative effects from such exclusion.
AGOA offers preferential access to the United States market for goods from about
40 Sub-Saharan nations that meet the required political and economical
standards. The removal of the country as a beneficiary under the Act means that
the country will no longer have the preferential access to the markets and this
would be effective from January 1, 2015. It is worth mentioning that AGOA
contributed in fighting unemployment in the country as over 17 000 people were
employed in the textile firms countrywide.
“We advise that consequent to the country’s exclusion from being a recipient
of benefits envisaged in AGOA, with effect from January 2015, the company is
unfortunately the bearer of the negative effects from such exclusion.
“The company exports 100 per cent of its products to the United States of
America market and due to the country’s exclusion, we have been unable to
secure any further orders from our clients,” reads part of the letter, which
this publication has in its possession. The letter went on to state that in the
absence of any orders this placed the company in a difficult position
particularly because it has also been unable to secure alternative customers. It
said in light of this, the company has found itself without any other
alternative remedy but to implement a retrenchment exercise that would affect
all the 1 450 employees.
“It is further unfortunate that all employees, including expatriates, shall be
affected. We currently have 1 450 employees engaged on a permanent basis. In
light of the fact that Swaziland will stop benefiting from the Act with effect
from January 1, 2015, our customers have requested that we make the last
shipment on or before November 15, 2014 so that the products can arrive in the
USA before the deadline of the beginning of next year,” reads part of the
letter.
The company mentioned that it anticipated that the retrenchments would come into
effect on or after November 5, 2014.
Tex Ray Administrator Jim Wang confirmed the matter. He said after the country
was removed from AGOA, and the company’s headquarters in Taipei failed to
persuade the USA to continue buying their products from Swaziland despite the
fact that it was removed from the Act, they were left with no choice but to
retrench all the workers.
“We are retrenching all the workers but that does not mean the company is
leaving the country. The company will be closed for a short while because we
will be trying to increase the market in Southern Africa. Maybe at the beginning
of next year, we will start hiring the workers again in stages depending on the
market,” he said.
The administrator has assured the workers that they would get their terminal
benefits to sustain them while the company tries to find an alternative market
for its products.