Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant faces legal action from clothing manufacturers who accuse her of breaching the law by extending compliance with the minimum wage to companies that are not part of the sectoral bargaining council.
The United Clothing and Textile Association (Ucta) – representing 31 companies – and five firms launched an application in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg earlier this month against the minister and the bargaining council.
The firms are Valuline, Africa HK Manufacturing, Satcotrade, JCR Clothing and Gold Shu-Lin Clothing.
In a statement this week the applicants said they had sought an order in terms of the provisions of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act to set aside the decision of the minister, made on the request of the bargaining council, to extend the main collective agreement of the council to non-parties, which took effect in January.
Leon Deetlefs, the national compliance manager at the bargaining council, said on Wednesday that he could only confirm that the application had been lodged with the court.
The minister’s spokesman was unable to comment.
The main agreement of the bargaining council stipulates the minimum wage that must be paid. Many clothing manufacturers argued that the wage was unrealistic, given that the sector was unable to compete against illegal and cheap imports from the East.
In terms of an agreement reached last year at the bargaining council, firms had to comply with 70 percent of the minimum wage by April this year.
Deetlefs said writs of execution had been issued against 93 non-compliant companies, of which 21 had been served.
The challenge by Ucta “is primarily directed at the minister’s decision to impose a minimum wage, as agreed to in the bargaining council, to non-parties to the agreement”.
Ucta and the companies contend that the Labour Relations Act stipulates that a collective agreement can only be extended to non-parties if the parties to the agreement employ the majority of employees who will fall within the extended agreement’s scope.
According to the applicants, there are 92 512 employees in the clothing industry, with employer organisations in the council representing 44 000. - Business Report