The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) will demand a wage increase of 20% across board in the motor sector and three other sectors this year, it announced on Friday.
“This demand is simply about maintaining the 2007 buying power of our members. Workers have experienced a fall in real wages since the last bargaining round held in 2007,” said spokesperson Castro Ngobese in a statement.
The union would also negotiate the same one-year-wage agreements for the tyre manufacturing industry, iron and steel houses and at Eskom.
‘Modest’ wage increase
“We believe that the 20% wage increase demand is modest and does not necessarily mean that the quality of life of workers will improve.”
He said Numsa was not insensitive or unaware of the current economic climate.
Anything less than this demand would mean that workers will be financing companies’ fall in the rate of profit during the recession, Ngobese said.
Retrenchments
“We have never seen any sharing of wealth during good economic times and we therefore find it unacceptable that workers should now sacrifice more than they have already in difficult times.”
According to Ngobese, workers had made many sacrifices already as tens of thousands were retrenched as companies reduced employment levels, “to maximise profits during the recession”.
He said Numsa was determined to eliminate “colonial and apartheid income inequality” and the skills training deficit of the overwhelming majority of South African people, in particular blacks.
The union would also be making use of the collective bargaining to continue fighting for the abolition of labour brokers.
“Numsa shall present these prioritised sector-specific demands during the 2010 bargaining round. All other demands will be negotiated next year, 2011, when all sectors should be bargaining concurrently.” – Sapa