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Tanzania: 1000 Now Jobless As Kiltex Grinds to a Halt
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Arusha Times (Arusha)
17 November 2007
Posted to the web 16 November 2007
Arusha
Just six years after being re-opened, Arusha's third largest textile firm, the New Kilimanjaro Textile Mills (LKILTEX0 has closed down. The management has confirmed the closure but said it will be for a few months. Workers on the other hand are pessimistic.
KILTEX closure has so far sent about 1000 people who were employed at the factory down the streets looking for new jobs. That will not be easy however, because the other two big textile mills in Arusha, Sun-Flag and A-to-Z , are also trimming their work forces apparently to cut down overhead costs especially in view of the recently announced salaries.
About 10,000 people were earning their bread from working in the three Arusha based textile factories. The number of workers in this formerly largest industrial employer in the region is currently falling at alarming rate.
As for KILTEX the factory management says the closure follows a long time review of its supply chain and production level, leaving directors with 'no obvious alternative other than to propose the closure of the factory'.
The 'cease employment pact' was signed between the management and the workers' association on October 24, 2007, the employer blamed the factory closure on dilapidated machinery and lack of spare parts to restore the equipment.
Formerly a state owned plant, under the National Textile chain that included Sungura Textile and Urafiki of Dar-es-salaam and MWATEX of Mwanza, Arusha's KILTEX went private in 2001.
The factory management has opted to meet redundancy payments to its 800 workers rather than continue to run at a loss.
'For a long time now, our production has been declining due to dilapidated production machines and unavailability of spare parts locally, ' reads part of the signed contract.
As a result the Directors had to order the closure of the plant for a period of three or four months beginning November 1, as they wait for the arrival of some imported machinery.
The new machines will be installed at the Spinning and Weaving department to replace the dilapidated ones. Most of the machinery inside the factory could be as old as the premises foundations.
'With such dilapidated machines and its low production capacity, KILTEX could not afford to pay the new private sector's minimum wages announced by the government recently,' reads part of the document .
Speaking soon after the announcement, a former worker of the disbanded KILTEX, Hassan Ibrahim said: 'this is very disturbing news. It is a real blow to the community right here in Arusha and its suburbs'.
Another worker Bashir Ally said the majority of workers had been crying when they heard the news that the factory would be closed down. 'There are so many of us working there. We don't know what we are going to do now.' Ally said, adding: 'This is economic blow to Arusha region.'
Majority of former employees of the factory, however, have expressed their concern over the payment of their terminal benefits.
'There are some who worked with the KILTEX for six years and got as little as 200,000/- in terminal benefits,' chipped in yet another former worker, Mwita Marwa.
They also complained about their overtime payments, which they claimed they had not been paid at all until the time the plant was closed down.
'We don't know what will happen to our over time claims, because the factory has succumbed to the impact of low production" they said. "We would like to appeal to the government to stand for our rights, ' noted Said Mohamed.
The Northern Zone secretary of Tanzania Union of Industrial and Commercial Workers (TUICO), Hassan Ngowo, confirmed to have received the workers' grievances over their terminal benefits as well as overtime payments and he promised to work on them accordingly.
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The closure of the factory has sent shocking waves in the region and its suburbs where the KILTEX industry was a major employer. The plant is located at the densely populated Daraja Mbili ward and its employment stable spawns Unga-Limited, Kijenge, Njiro, Mbauda, Sanawari, Kaloleni and Kimandolu areas.
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| Copyright © 2007 Arusha Times. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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