Press Statement dated 3 July 2018
The National Union of Leather and Allied Workers (NULAW) an affiliate of the Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) has deadlocked with the Southern African Footwear and Leather Industries Association (SAFLIA), the industry’s employers’ organization over wages and other conditions of employment.
NULAW is the majority union in the footwear sector. NUL.AW General Secretary, Ashley Benjamin said the dispute was declared after two rounds of negotiations and a mediation meeting by a senior commissioner on the 28th June 2018 failed.
NUL.AW rejected the employer’s offer of 6.25% and demand a 9.5% increase including the extension of the family responsibility leave provisions to a member’s spouse. Another union SACTWU is also involved in the wage dispute.
The Union is busy balloting its members in footwear companies nationally to obtain a mandate whether to go on a protected strike.
We call on the employers to table a decent revised offer which we can take to our members for mandating processes in order to avert a national strike, concluded Benjamin.
Issued by Ashley Benjamin, General Secretary, National Union of Leather and Allied Workers (NULAW)