Any expressions used in this Agreement which are defined in the Labour Relations Act, 1995, shall have the same meaning as in that

Act, any references 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 female and vice versa.

"caretaker"

means an employee who is resident on the factory premises for which and for the contents of which he is responsible, who directs and supervises the cleaning staff and who may engage or discharge subordinate staff;

"casual employee"

means an employee performing the operations specified in clause 40 of Part II of this Agreement and who is employed by the same employer for not more than 24 hours in any one month for a period not exceeding three months;

"Clerk"

means an employee engaged in clerical and administrative duties;

"compulsory retirement age"

means the age of 65 years;

"Council"

means the Bargaining Council for the Furniture Manufacturing Industry of the South Western Districts, registered in terms of section 29 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995;

"despatch clerk"

means an employee engaged in clerical and administrative duties and who may be responsible for the packing of goods for  transport or delivery, and who may supervise the packing, mass measuring and/or assembling of such goods, the checking of packages and the marking and addressing thereof;

"driver of a motor vehicle"

means an employee, other than a chauffeur, who is engaged in the delivery and transport of goods, and for the purposes of this definition, "driving of a light or heavy motor vehicle or the load, and all periods. during which he is obliged to remain at his post in readiness to drive;

"employment"

means the total length of all periods of an employee's service in the Furniture Manufacturing Industry.

"establishment"

means any place where furniture manufacturing is carried on and includes any place where a person is employed in all or any of the classes of work specified in Part II of this Agreement.

"foreman and/or supervisor"

means an employee who is in charge of the employees in an establishment or section or department of an establishment, who exercises control over such employees and who is responsible for the efficient performance by them of their duties.

"hourly rate"

means the rate determined in accordance with the provisions of clause 32 of this Agreement;

"learner"

means an employee serving under a written contract of learnership or apprenticeship registered or deemed to be registered under the provisions of the Skills Development Act, 1998 (Act No.97 of 1998).

"machine maintenance mechanic"

means an employee who is employed solely in all or any of the following operations: tracing faults in, overhauling or repairing machinery used in/or in connection with an establishment or supervising all or any of these operations;

"new entrant"

means an employee who has not previously worked in the Furniture Manufacturing industry;

"night shift work"

means a shift worked after 18H00 and before 06H00 of the next day;

"normal, time"

means the standard minimum hours that an employee is required to work on which the employee's basic weekly wage is calculated;

"ordinary hours"

means the hours between the specified starting and finishing time of work for each day of the week, excluding the meal interval;

"redundancy"

means that a position becomes permanently superfluous as a result of re-organisation or technological change and that, consequently, there is no foreseeable possibility of an employee who looses his employment through redundancy being re-employed in his previous position.

"registrar"

means the Registrar of Labour Relations appointed in terms of section 108 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995;

"remuneration"

means any payment in money made or owing to any employee which arises in any matter whatsoever out of employment;

"retirement age"

means the age of 60 years;

"retrenchment"

means the loss of employment as a result of a downturn in the economic affairs of an establishment.

"Shop Steward"

means a member of a trade union who is elected to represent the employees in a workplace.

"short time"

means the reduction in the number of ordinary working hours in an establishment owing to slackness of trade, shortage of raw materials or a general breakdown of plant or machinery caused by accident or other unforeseen emergency.

"storeman"

means an employee who is in charge of stores or finished products and who is responsible for receiving, storing, assembling, packing or unpacking goods in storage, and for delivering goods from the store to consumer departments.

"wage"

means that portion of remuneration as prescribed in Part lll, Annexure A, of this Agreement, payable in money to an employee in respect of his ordinary hours of work or, where an employer regularly pays an employee in respect of such ordinary hours of work an amount higher than that so prescribed, it means such higher amount.

"watchman"

means an employee who is engaged in guarding premises or other property.