The National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (Numsa) and South African steel group Iscor are expected to resume talks on Tuesday in an attempt to resolve a wage dispute as the strike enters its eighth day.
Numsa spokesperson Dumisa Ntuli said the resumption of talks with Iscor was
preceded by workers’ general meetings, which gave the negotiators a new mandate
to table in the meeting.
Ntuli said the union would table the revised mandate with the company.
“Workers vowed over the weekend to continue with primary strike action if their demands are not going to be met by the company. They are more than prepared to strike for another three weeks,” Ntuli said.
He added that effectively, the strike was continuing.
“We hope employers will go a long way to meet our demands and move away from their narrow approach. We think the company will be able to reconcile and seize the opportunity. The company has not registered any sterling performance since the strike started. The share price will sink lower as long as the strike continues,” he added.
Numsa has accused Iscor of failing to deliver the promised salaries to the workers.
Iscor executive director human resources Abe Thebyane maintained on Monday that the company’s operation continued to run normally despite the strike action.
Thebyane said production over the past weekend at Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging (south of Johannesburg), Newcastle (northern KwaZulu Natal) and Saldanha Steel (west coast) remain unaffected.
“We are now awaiting communication from Numsa to ascertain whether or not they wish to avail themselves of a future meeting,” he said.
Thebyane added that there had been an increase in the incidence of intimidation by Numsa members on non-striking workers and he appealed to the union to conduct themselves in a manner befitting the requirements of a legal dispute. – I-Net Bridge