Covid-19: Textile Bargaining Council reaches agreement with UIF

COVID-19

TEXTILE BARGAINING COUNCIL REACHES AGREEMENT WITH UIF

Dear employer

The Minister of Employment and Labour has extended an Agreement of the Textile Bargaining Council, concluded in response to the lockdown, to non-parties with effect from 7 April 2020.

The purpose of the Agreement is to assist in the payment of employees during the lockdown and to facilitate the process surrounding payments.

In terms of the Agreement, the employer and the UIF will take turns to pay the employees on a weekly basis.

These payments are to be regulated as follows:

• 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.
• The employers agree to pay the public-holiday-payments, due to workers, for 10 April 2020 and 13 April 2020 respectively. Payment will be made during the applicable pay week.
• Normal statutory deductions and deductions prescribed by the Council’s main agreement shall continue to be effected as well as employer contributions to statutory obligations and those prescribed by the Council’s Main Agreement.
• 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.

Please click here to view the Agreement.

Regards

We are all in this together.
Privileged and challenged to be South African.