Dear CEO Members
Yesterday, 07 April 2020, the Minister of Employment and Labour extended the abovementioned agreement to non-parties within the textile industry, in an answer to the dire state of the industry during the national lockdown.
This agreement will facilitate payments to employees within the industry during the lockdown. As per the agreement, employers withing the industry and UIF will alternate in paying employees’ weekly wages.
Please click here to view the gazetted agreement.
Regarding payments to employees, members, please take note of the following as per the agreement:
Week 1 (ending Sunday 29 March 2020): deferred wages payable by the employer, for work already performed during the week of the lockdown, with; the balance made up from worker funds received from the UIF, for that portion of the lockdown week for which no wage is due.
Week 2 (ending Sunday 5 April 2020): a full week’s wages, payable by the employer.
Week 3 (ending Sunday 12 April 2020): a full week’s wages, payable from worker funds received from the UIF.
Week 4 (ending Sunday 19 April 2020): payable from worker funds received from the UIF for that part of this week when the lockdown is still in effect as declared by the President on 23 March 2020 plus; payable by the employer for that part of the week for work performed and which does not form part of the lockdown period.
Public Holiday Payments
Employers further agreed to pay the public holiday payments, due to workers, for 10 April 2020 and 13 April 2020 respectively. Said payments will be made during the applicable pay week.
Council Deductions
Normal statutory deductions and deductions prescribed by the council’s main agreement shall continue to be affected as well as employer contributions to statutory obligations and those prescribed by the Council’s Main Agreement.
Catching up on lost production – overtime at normal time
The parties agreed that, after the lockdown period, employees shall be required to assist with the making up of lost production time, and where lost production requires overtime work, employees shall be paid normal hours of work, provided that how this overtime work arrangement will be done, is discussed at plant level. This provision shall only apply to the week in which the employer is required to pay wages which are not due for work already performed or from the UlF, as set out above.
We at CEO will keep our members abreast on any new developments herein. For any enquiries, please contact our office at (012) 880 0294 and/or e-mail us at cb@ceosa.org.za