Cape Town - Two hundred workers at a clothing factory in Lansdowne are set to lose their jobs when the AJ CMT factory files for liquidation, according to the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu).
“It is not going to be a good Christmas for these workers,” said Fachmy Abrahams, the union’s co-ordinator in the office of the general secretary.
“Many of the clothing workers are single mothers and support up to five and eight family members. In our discussions with the owners, we told them ‘you have money to fall back on but these workers will have nothing’.”
Sactwu
presented proposals to keep the doors open, including the option of a business rescue, but Abrahams said it had made no difference.
On Friday, union representatives and workers arrived at the factory and were shocked to see machinery being moved off the premises.
Abrahams confirmed that this could not happen until the opposing papers are filed, and that the attempt to remove the machinery was halted.
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But Waldo van Zyl, general manager of AJ CMT, countered however that the 17-year-old company was unable to come back from the struggles it had experienced over the past two years.
Van Zyl confirmed that the union did present the option of a business rescue consultant, but that it was simply “too late”.
He added that the union “didn’t have anything concrete on the table” including where the funding would come from.
When asked about management’s reaction to Sactwu filing opposing papers to the liquidation, he said: “If they can turn it around, then we will be so happy.”
For now, Van Zyl insists management has done all it can for the workers, including paying all annual leave and bonuses. He also said that management had been approached by two companies “keen to take on all of the employees”.