Nearly 4,630 workers employed in 70 woven cotton textile factories across South Africa are a happy as they have walked away with an above-inflation wage agreement. This move has been hailed as a victory for textile wage earners. As per Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (SACTWU) general secretary, Andre Kriel, workers had received an 8.25 per cent increase backdated to July 1, 2016.

Kriel said the agreement with woven cotton textile sector employers represented by the South African Cotton and Textile Processing Employers Association covers improvements in the prescribed minimum wages, retirement fund contributions and bargaining council levies. The muted nature of these negotiations and the relative speed with which the agreement was reached are in contrast with the talks taking place in other sectors.

Although the Treasury had warned about the implications of above-inflation wages on inflation and interest rates, SACTWU has long campaigned for a living wage and argued that textile workers are the lowest-paid workmen in the manufacturing sector. The cotton textile sector as well as the overall clothing industry is generally concentrated in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and Western Cape. In the government’s Industrial Policy Action Plan, the sector is identified as a high priority because it is labour-intensive.

In 2013, textiles and clothing accounted for about 14 per cent of manufacturing employment and represented South Africa’s second-largest source of tax revenue.