Any expression used under this Agreement which are defined in the Labour Relations Act, 1995, shall have the same meaning as in that Act and any reference to an Act shall include any amendments to such Act, and unless the contrary intention appears, words importing the masculine gender shall also include the feminine gender and vice versa; further, unless inconsistent with the context—

"Act"

means the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (Act 66 of 1995)(as amended);

"adoption order"

means an adoption order as envisaged in the Children's Act, 2005 (Act No. 38 of 2005);

"adoptive parent"

has the meaning assigned to it in section 1 of the Children's Act, 2005 (Act No. 38 of 2005);

"assistant despatch clerk"

means an employee who assists the despatch clerk, and who is under his direct supervision;

"assistant storeman"

means an employee who assists the storeman, and who is under his direct supervision;

"auditor"

means an auditor registered under the Public Accountant's and Auditor's Act, 1991 (Act 80 of 1991);

"caretaker"

means an employee who is resident on the factory premises and who is responsible for any one or more of the following duties:

"casual driver of motor vehicle"

means an employee who is employed as a driver of a motor vehicle by the same employer for not more than 3 days in any one month, to be remunerated daily for 9 hours at no less than the applicable minimum hourly rate for drivers, plus full leave pay monies and maximum holiday bonus monies;

"casual employee"

means an employee who is employed by the same employer for not more than 3 days in any one month, to be remunerated at the applicable hourly rate for the occupation skills level of work performed plus full leave pay monies and maximum holiday bonus monies;

"chargehand"

means an employee who customarily and regularly directs, subject to the instructions of management, the work of general workers while he may also be engaged in the production of furniture and/or upholstery and/or bedding in the capacity of a general worker;

"Collective Agreement"

means any current agreement for the Furniture, Bedding and Upholstery Manufacturing Industry in which wages are prescribed, or in the absence of such an agreement, the last wage agreement published for the Industry in terms of the Act;

"commissioning parent"

has the meaning assigned to it in section 1 of the Children's Act, 2005 (Act No. 38 of 2005);

"compulsory retirement age"

for an employee in the Industry is the age of 65 years;

"contributions"

means the amount of money payable to the funds of the Council as determined from time to time;

"Council"

means the Furniture Bargaining Council registered in terms of the Act;

"dependant"

in relation to a member and for the purposes of the—

persons accepted by the Fund as being dependants in accordance with the rules of the Fund; and the

persons accepted by the Society as being dependants in accordance with the rules of the Society; and the

persons accepted by the Scheme as being dependants/beneficiaries in accordance with the rules of the Scheme;

[Definition substituted by section 3 of Notice No. R. 30, GG44090, dated 22 January 2021]

"despatch clerk"

means an employee who is wholly or mainly engaged in the despatch or the packing or receiving of goods for transport or delivery and who may attend to or supervise the checking, mass-measuring, packing, marking, addressing or despatching thereof;

"driver"

means an employee who is engaged in driving a motor vehicle, and for the purposes of this definition the expression "driving a motor vehicle" includes all periods of driving, any time spent by a driver on work connected with the vehicle or the load and all periods during which he is obliged to remain at his post in readiness to drive;

"driver's logbook"

means a book provided by his employer (if required) to be completed in duplicate;

"emergency services"

means any work which, owing to causes such as fire, storm, accident, act of violence or theft, must be done without delay, and any work necessary for the transportation of machinery to prevent any serious dislocation in the Industry;

"employee"

means the same as defined in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 1997 (Act 75 of 1997)(as amended);

"establishment"

means any premises where furniture, bedding and upholstery manufacturing takes place;

"experience"

means the total length of all periods of employment which an employee (in the occupation in which he is engaged) has had in any industry;

"foreman" and/or "supervisor"

means an employee who is employed in a supervisory capacity and who, in the execution of his duties, which shall be related to the Furniture, Bedding and Upholstery Manufacturing Industry—

but excludes employees who are engaged in costing, designing, buying, planning, organising, directing and/or controlling the duties of foreman and/or supervisor: Provided that in the absence of foremen and/or supervisors, the aforesaid excluded employees shall be deemed to be the foremen or supervisors;

"Holiday Bonus"

means a work attendance bonus payable by the establishment for its employees, which is determined by the level of work attendance of the individual employee;

"Holiday Bonus Fund"

means the Fund established by the Council for the purposes of receiving holiday bonus monies from establishments for their employees, for holding these holiday bonus monies my reserve and to pay these holiday bonus monies to the employees when due;

"large size employer"

means an employer who employs in excess of 20 employees;

"leave pay"

means that portion of the employee's remuneration payable by the establishment for the employee for the purpose of remunerating the employee for any period which the employee is on annual leave as prescribed by the prevailing Collective Agreement;

"Leave Pay Fund"

means the Fund established by the Council for the purposes of receiving leave pay monies from establishments for their employees, for holding these monies in reserve and to pay these leave pay monies to the employees when due;

"medium size employer"

means an employer who employs between 11 and 20 employees;

"micro size employer"

means an employer who employs less than 4 employees;

"new establishment"

means a business in the scope of this Agreement, which has not conducted manufacturing activities for a period of more than 6 months;

"ordinary hours of work"

means the maximum number of hours which an establishment ordinarily works per week and normal hours of work has the same meaning;

"pay week"

means the period of 7 days which is considered when determining the weekly wage of an employee, based on an hourly rate of pay;

"prospective adoptive parent"

means a person who complies with the requirements set out in section 231(2) of the Children's Act, 2005 (Act No. 38 of 2005);

"senior shop steward"

means a chairperson or a convenor of shop stewards at an establishment;

"small size employer"

means an employer who employs between 4 and 10 employees;

"substantive issues"

means all issues relating to cost and affecting the wage packages of employees or their remuneration;

"surrogate motherhood agreement"

has the meaning assigned to it in section 1 of the Children's Act, 2005 (Act No. 38 of 2005);

"temporary employment service or labour broker"

means a service provided by any person who, for reward, procures for or provides to a client other persons who—

"trade union representative or shop steward"

means a person who is a registered member of any of the trade unions which are parties to this Agreement and who has been elected as such by the employees at any particular establishment;

"wage"

means the remuneration payable in money to an employee as prescribed in this Agreement, or where an employer regularly pays to an employee an amount higher than the prescribed amount such higher amount;

"weekly paid employee"

means an employee who is remunerated weekly;

"working employer"

means any person, including a partner in a partnership or a director in a company or a member of a close corporation, who performs any of the classes of work of which wages are prescribed in this Agreement.