5% PAY RISE FOR TEXTILE WORKERS

MBABANE – Textile workers have been accorded a five per cent wage increase but they are not pleased.

The new minimum wages have been documented in the Wages Act No. 16 of 1964 under the regulations for textile and apparel workers’ wages.
This means that the new minimum wages for the lowest worker paid will be E235.30 per week.

This is contained in a gazette dated May 22, 2015.
The new increments, however, may not be received as good news to the workers as they were seking more.

Negotiated

They had initially negotiated an increment of 10 per cent.
Wonder Mkhonza, the Secretary General of the Amalgamated Trade Union of Swaziland, also confirmed the increment.
He also said the workers wanted more. Mkhonza said said last year, workers had negotiated a two-year agreement which meant they may have another increment next year.

“The increment is too little,”said Mkhonza.
He said this was so especially when the wages within the industry were to be taken into consideration.
Mkhonza said workers should continue to unionise for better working conditions as well as salaries.
He said as long as they relied on the wages council to negotiate their salaries, they were ‘fighting a losing battle’.

Decurity

During the past twelve months, workers in the textile industry have been daunted with the uncertainty of their job security.
This has been attributed to the loss of the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA).
The country lost its AGOA eligibility after it failed to meet the benchmarks set by the United States Government.

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