While the majority of previously non-compliant companies in the clothing industry have made an effort to be on the right side of the law with regards to minimum wages, jobs remain in jeopardy as the bargaining council for the sector continues to clamp down on companies that have not reached the 70 percent compliance level under a phase-in agreement.

Yesterday Leon Deetlefs, the national compliance manager at the bargaining council, said writs had been executed against 14 non-compliant factories in the past two weeks and this had left 1 408 people unemployed.

It had applied for a further 29 companies to be shut down in the next two weeks, which would put 2 300 people out of work.

The companies that have been closed are in KwaZulu-Natal and Free State. Deetlefs said he could not disclose their names because the matter was sub-judice.

“We have assessed 80 percent of the 416 non-compliant factories. About 59 percent are compliant, though that figure might change because we have received some information which shows that some of the payroll information that we were given by seven factories in Newcastle was false,” Deetlefs said.

Figures show that half of the companies in Newcastle are compliant but those numbers still include the seven companies who have been found to have supplied incorrect data.

Alex Liu, the chairman of the Newcastle Chinese Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber was aware that some companies had falsified information but he did not think that those were its members.

“We always encourage our members to tell the truth,” Liu added.

Deetlefs said that the council expected to wrap up the inspections next week. He said where non-compliance existed, it would continue to execute writs because employers had been given enough time to comply.

“It is up to the factory owners to decide how they are going to handle this. The bargaining council has been deliberating on this for over a year,” he said.

Five months ago, a phase-in agreement was reached where it was agreed that the minimum wage would have to be R336 a week from April. This would increase to R465 by the end of the year before topping R516 by next April.

Wayne van der Rheede, the deputy secretary-general of the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union, said it supported factory closures in cases where owners were adamant that they would never comply with the minimum wage.

“The law must apply and we are aware that in some areas, there are other employers who have taken up workers who have lost jobs when other factories closed down,” Van der Rheede said.

Rajan Naicker, the chairman of the Coastal Clothing Employers’ Association, which now has 80 percent compliant members, said its members had managed to comply without retrenching workers.

But Naicker warned that it would be difficult to sustain compliance if issues such as illegal imports and skills training were not addressed.

Liu warned that the current market prices would not sustain wages when factories reached 100 percent compliance. - Slindile Khanyile