Minister pulls no punches addressing textile factory owners in Newcastle

Minister Thulas Nxesi has spoken out strongly against poor working conditions many employees are faced with at mainly Chinese-owned factories in the Newcastle industrial area.

He was speaking at an urgently called-for meeting on March 7 with Chinese Business Chamber representatives, factory owners, unions and other stakeholders in the Industrial area.

The dialogue aimed to encourage engagement between all stakeholders involved after the blitz inspection on March 1, during which a factory in the Riverside Industrial Area was found to have violated multiple labour laws.

See the article on the Minsters visit here:https://tinyurl.com/mpwk2j9n

Some of the violations mentioned included employing undocumented foreign workers, failure to pay workers a minimum living wage, unsafe working conditions, housing of workers in unventilated rooms, locking workers inside the factory, and extremely long working hours.

In a tense environment indicated by the heavy presence of several SAPS officers, Minister Nxesi attempted to repair the admittedly acrimonious working relationship between the department and the employers at the textile factories.

 “We all have rights and responsibilities. What we must not do is paint these companies with a black brush because not all (companies) do that (flout laws). However there is a perception that most of them, do not respect labour rights,” Minister Nxesi said.

“We must try and clear these perceptions by doing the right things at these factories,” he advised

Outlining the specific instances of non-compliance, particularly those discovered during the most recent inspection, Nxesi emphasised the importance of upholding labour laws to protect the rights and well-being of workers.

Without pulling any punches, he strongly criticized the working circumstances, detailing that workers were housed in and at times locked in unventilated containers with illegal electrical connections that posed a fire risk.

“Are they (the workers) less human or are they animals who are locked up anytime?

“Why exploit the workers to work from 7 am to 10 pm with a one-hour break at 5 pm? Could you work those kind of hours? ”

In response to the factory owners’ claims that the Bargaining Council and the department were unfairly targeting them, Nxesi underlined that any business that violates the labour legislation is the focus of the inspections, not just Chinese business owners

He added that many employers attempt when notified of an inspection, to intimidate their employees or to deny the department access to their facilities, forcing the department to ask SAPS to go with them so they can conduct inspections.

“We were here last week and some employers were letting their undocumented workers go through the back door. Some went as far as hiding them under piles of fabric. Why is that happening?”

In attempts to end the meeting on a productive and positive note, Nxesi stressed the need for a more positive and proactive approach and asked for increased communication among all parties involved to foster productive partnerships and to guarantee and promote compliance moving ahead.

For more on this story, pick up next week’s edition of the Newcastle Advertiser.

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