2 850 TEXTILE WORKERS FACE MASS LAYOFFS

MATSAPHA – Scores of textile workers are set be thrown into deep financial woes, as mass layoffs have started in the industry.

Currently, three textile factories have applied to the office of the Labour Commissioner Under the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, to lay off its staff members. The workers to be affected in the three factories are about 2 850 in total.

These companies are Fashion International Eswatini, which has about 1 600 workers, Kasumi Apparels with over 750 employees and Leo Garments Swaziland, which employs over 500 emaSwati.

Impeccable sources within the industry revealed that the main reason for the layoffs was that during this calendar period, there were no orders as it was the most quiet season in the sector. The companies are said to usually run short of orders from their buyers, especially in the South African market. However, the sources added that this year there was an added disadvantage with the upcoming national elections in South Africa.

“Some of our clients have told us that they could not order as usual because they were waiting to see the effect of the change of government to the economy,” the sources said.

Again, they said people in the neighbouring country seem to have lost buying power, as most shops, which were their clients, were retailing their products at lower prices. They said this meant that the clients could not place orders that would keep every employee in the factories working, since they were also not making profit because business was not at its peak.

“The major cause of the layoffs is largely due to a failure by the companies to secure certain orders, which are very crucial and critical to their  continued operations,” the sources said.

Stakeholders

They said it was anticipated that all employees in the factories would be affected by the layoffs. However, they assured stakeholders that the management of the different factories would keep them informed of any further developments either positive or otherwise.

The managers in the sector highlighted that the ‘low season’ started during the month of February, but they had been able to keep the employees working by sewing stock which they wanted to have ready in case a customer came looking for it. They said for this stock, they used the fabric which was unused when doing their orders.

  
In fact, Kasumi Apparels Swaziland, a sub-factory of Tex Ray Group of Companies, received a green light to lay off its workers on a short term basis. As a result, some of them are already home. In its application letter to the Office of the Labour Commissioner, Kasumi Apparels Swaziland management said the  short-term layoffs would be for three weeks, starting on April 8, 2019 until April 26, 2019. However, the management highlighted that the layoffs would be in groups and each group would be laid off for six days.

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