<\/p>\n
Twenty-four Chinese-owned clothing manufacturers in Newcastle have agreed, effectively, that they have no labour law \u201camnesty\u201d and cannot keep the clothing bargaining council\u2019s inspectors out of their factories.<\/p>\n
However, according to the order granted by Durban Labour Court Acting Judge Sean Snyman, they can still \u201cchallenge\u201d whether they fall under the jurisdiction of the National Bargaining Council for the Clothing Manufacturing Industry and are bound by its collective agreement on wages and working conditions.<\/p>\n
Read: Labour department gives in on \u2018amnesty\u2019 for Chinese-owned clothing factories<\/p>\n
Last week, the Minister of Employment and Labour\u00a0agreed to\u00a0an order that the department could not lawfully grant any labour law compliance grace period to about 31 factories, labelled the G31, some of which the council alleges are \u201csweatshops\u201d.<\/p>\n
The bargaining council initiated the urgent court action after it became aware of a departmental pilot project aimed at educating the Chinese-owned manufacturers on labour laws and their statutory obligations.<\/p>\n
The council said that in recent months, several factories had refused its inspectors access, claiming that they were protected for 18 months under the project.<\/p>\n
In its court papers, the council argued that the government had no right to interfere with its work and only the council could force or excuse compliance with its main collective agreement.<\/p>\n
It wanted an order binding the companies to the collective bargaining agreement.<\/p>\n
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Read: KZN clothing factory owners warn of collapse as immigrant workers leave<\/p>\n
The cited manufacturers initially indicated that they would oppose the application and late last week filed a supplementary affidavit, claiming there was no clarity over which of the bargaining councils had jurisdiction over them.<\/p>\n
They also denied that they refused access to inspectors.<\/p>\n
Xiangxiang Zheng, director of Mountain Spring Trading and Clothing (Pty) Ltd, said the project had been initiated by the factory owners who, being of Chinese descent, were unfamiliar with South African labour law and whose primary language \u201cis not English\u201d.<\/p>\n
Zheng said the owners \u201cfound themselves in an invidious position\u201d where their operations straddled the scope of different bargaining councils within the clothing and textile industry.<\/p>\n
He said some of those included the National Textile Bargaining Council, the Bargaining Council for the Leather Industry and the Bargaining Council for the Laundry, Cleaning and Dyeing Industry.<\/p>\n
The project, Zheng said, was aimed at allowing proper profiling and classification to achieve compliance within the broader textile sector.<\/p>\n
He accused the council of attempting to \u201cforce compliance\u201d, before the council\u2019s jurisdiction had been confirmed and before a clear, logical and transparent joint inspection, involving all bargaining councils, had been conducted.<\/p>\n
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Read:
\u2018Sweatshop\u2019 conditions behind proudly South African clothes
Sweatshops: Action taken against another clothing manufacturer<\/p>\n
The council\u2019s attorney Richard Erasmus confirmed on Monday that the matter had been settled over the weekend with 24 of 25 of the cited manufacturers.\u00a0One was excluded; it had not been properly served because it was no longer trading at its registered address.<\/p>\n
The minister, who remained the first respondent in the proceedings on Monday (12 October), did not oppose the application and consented to the order.<\/p>\n
Each party was ordered to pay their own costs.<\/p>\n
The council still has pending cases against two design houses \u2013 Drake Clothing and Gemelli \u2013 which it accuses of contracting \u201cunlawful sweatshops and sham co-operatives\u201d to supply major South African retailers. It wants the design houses closed. Both have strongly denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
These applications, which are pending before the Pietermaritzburg High Court, will be set down for argument when all the papers have been filed.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 GroundUp. This article was first published\u00a0here.<\/p>\n
#Newcastle #clothing #factories #legal #battle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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