Gerald Naidoo, General Secretary/Principal Officer, National Bargaining Council of the Leather Industry of SA

General Goods and Handbag Sector:
The second round of wage negotiations took place in Cape Town on 03 and 04 May 2023. The Employer Organisation has made the below offer of settlement to the NULAW & SACTWU.

1)      Wage Increase: An increase of 7% on all prescribed operations with effect from 1 July 2023.

   2)      Family Responsibility Leave: Family Responsibility Leave will be increased by one day’s unpaid leave, effective from 1 July 2023.

NULAW has accepted the employer’s offer of settlement whilst SACTWU has indicated that they would need to consult their members before providing an official response to the settlement offer. SACTWU has not responded to the Employer’s offer as yet.

Tanning Sector:
SATEO has made a final offer of settlement to SACTWU & NULAW as follows:
1)      Wage Increase: A wage increase of 7.25% on all prescribed operations with effect from 1 July 2023.

2)      Learners: The provisions for learners in Schedule 1 shall be amended as follows:
Learner-ship shall apply to employees employed on Bands A1, A2, B, C and E in Sections 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
The period of learner-ship shall be reduced by six months with the removal of the Second Six months of experience. (learners shall earn 80% of the prescribed rate pay for the first six months of experience and thereafter earn the qualified rate of pay for the operation performed).

3)      Family Responsibility Leave: The scope of Family Responsibility Leave will be broadened to include “when the employee’s biological grandparent is sick”
NULAW accepted the employers’ offer while SACTWU will revert by 25 May.

Footwear
The second round of the Footwear Sector wage negotiation will take place in Durban on 16th & 17th May 2023.

The annual Arsutoria footwear and handbag international trends workshops in South Africa are sponsored by SAFLIA, SAFLEC and the Ethekwini Footwear & Leather Export Programme, and this year’s workshops were held in Durban from 17 to 21 April and in Cape Town on 24 April. S&V asked the Durban attendees to say what effect it had had on them. 2 of the 24 have so far responded.

Colleen Chappé de Leonval, Azula Collective, Durban, KZN, SA

What was most helpful about the course?

  Having time with Orietta to advise on range, materials, and business plan.
        For me, it was akin to a design sprint in that Orietta helped me course-correct my style, focus on an iconic product, expand my understanding of our target market, and commit to a plan. What was most helpful, was that Orietta was optimistic about the recycled plastic components I am developing. To have a green light from someone with so much context of the global fashion market was encouraging.
 
   Was there anything you learnt which was completely new to you, and what was that?

    Exposure to international brands that are influencing the fashion and materials landscape was highly valuable. Many of these game-changers I had not heard of before. The concept of the ‘indi brand’ was particularly new. Essentially smaller brands that innovate and in a short space of time are competing on powerful platforms alongside huge and established luxury brands. This was not only novel but highly inspiring.

   Do you expect to create a new style or product based on what you learnt at the workshop?

    Absolutely. I was going with a style that is currently not popular and as a result of the presentation and feedback from Orietta, I have chosen a more versatile product and adapted the materials I was planning to use.
 
 
   Robert Manock, Manock Naturals, Durban, KZN, SA

What was most helpful about the course?

  Learning about the new sustainable and innovative fashion trends. How big brands are tackling concerns from the public and how smaller brands (Rogue brands) have an impact on the marketing environment.
        I also thoroughly enjoyed meeting like-minded artisanal creatives in the leather and textile industry. It’s nice to exchange ideas and views on the latest issues at hand.
 
  Was there anything you learnt which was completely new to you, and what was that?

  Yes, I learnt that Artificial Intelligence will have an impact on the fashion industry and could even figure out the next trend. Our creativity will be affected by AI.
 
  Do you expect to create a new style or product based on what you learnt at the workshop?

  Yes. I have been inspired to create a 'drop'. Which is basically the new fancy word for 'collection'. Through the workshop I got to put a passion project of mine into the works. I created a story, meaning and marketing strategy through this workshop.

A press release received last week from the ‘Localisation Support Fund’

Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA (03 May 2023) - The Minister of Trade, Industry, and Competition, Ebrahim Patel, will tomorrow launch the Localisation Support Fund (LSF).
      The funding is aimed at assisting manufacturers to increase their capacity and improve their competitiveness. The LSF’s goal is to contribute in the reduction of imports, promotion of competitiveness and increased capacity of manufacturers to produce optimally mainly for exporting. The LSF is a non-profit company funded by the private sector and it is focussing on localising manufacturing in South Africa by unblocking challenges in the sector.
      The LSF partners with stakeholders in the industry to facilitate interaction between manufacturers and buyers (supply and demand participants). It provides funding for industry research and the deployment of technical experts to unlock challenges and accelerate opportunities for growth in the manufacturing sector.

Mark Kingon, Kingon's
East London, E. Cape, SA - We opened on the 27th and closed on the1st
      We were running a birthday sale of 20% off everything for the Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Thursday was very poor, Friday was very good and Saturday seems to be slow but Ok!
      The month of April has generally been rather good with school sales driving everything (school went back to 2nd term winter).

Greg Bing, A.P. Jones
Fish Hoek, W. Cape, SA - We traded well on the Wednesday, at the start of the long weekend. Whether this was due to an influx of visitors to our area or not, I cannot say.
      Thursday was interesting as we normally close on public holidays. We advertised on Facebook and to our mailing list that we would be open and trade was “ok” at best. I would probably have to say that we were satisfied with the turnover.
      Trade was good on both Friday and Saturday,  but we were not rushed off our feet. Saturday felt slightly busier because we were short staffed in our ladies section.
      A.P. Jones was closed on Sunday and Monday. A nice refreshing time for my staff.

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA - The Tribunal has approved, subject to employment and local procurement related conditions, the proposed merger whereby Foschini Retail Group (Pty) Ltd intends to acquire the business conducted under the Street Fever business name from BMT Street Fever (Pty) Ltd.
      Post-merger, the Street Fever business will be solely controlled by Foschini, and by extension, The Foschini Group (“TFG”).
      In line with the conditions imposed by the Tribunal, for 3 years after the merger’s approval date, the merged entity will keep a record of retrenched employees and notify them of any employment opportunities that arise, taking into consideration qualifications, expertise and physical location. In addition, the merged entity will not retrench any employees as a result of the merger for a period of 3 years from the transaction’s approval date.
      On local procurement, the merged entity will replace imported apparel and footwear products with those from local manufacturers for a specified period and value. A portion of the spend must be geared towards small businesses owned by historically disadvantaged persons.
      TFG is a South African chain-store group with fashion and lifestyle retail brands offering clothing, cosmetics, jewellery, sporting apparel and equipment, cell phones, mobile technology products, homeware and furniture. TFG’s retail offering is available in-store and online. Relevant to the proposed transaction are TFG’s lifestyle fashion retail chains i.e. Totalsport, Sports Scene, Archive and Sneaker Factory.
      The target business is a South African retailer of branded lifestyle and sports-inspired “athleisure” footwear, apparel and accessories presently conducted under the business name “Street Fever”. Street Fever has stores across South Africa and its retail offering is also available online.