Two hundred and thirty thousand members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) are poised to go on strike if the union and the Steel, Engineering Industry Federation of South Africa (Seifsa) don’t reach an agreement on wage increases for this year.
The two parties are meeting today in last chance in-depth talks to avert a strike in the metal industry.
Numsa has warned that if an amicable agreement is not reached, the union would be obliged to issue 48-hour’s notice for workers to resume industrial action.
Spokesperson Dumisa Ntuli said close to 230 000 workers remained mobilised and ready to resume indefinite strike action. The wage talks cover 400 000 workers in the steel and engineering industry.
Ntuli said the current dispute was not about differences between Seifsa’s offer of 10,5% for the lowest paid workers and Numsa’s demand of CPIX plus 3% improvement factor.
He said the point of contention was whether the employer federation was prepared to meet other non-wage demands, which included permanent employment of workers under labour brokers, the provision of HIV/Aids anti-retroviral drugs, training during working hours and the issue of four weeks severance pay for each year of service.
Numsa demanded that the wage issue also be considered qualitatively and that Seifsa meet all the eleven crucial socio-economic demands to avoid a strike.
“What we require is a comprehensive package agreement that will achieve desirable economic outcomes in the industry,” Ntuli added.
The trade union said it acknowledged the employers’ wage offer of 10,5% as an improvement from the previous offer, but it was still not sufficient.
Seifsa last week stated that attempts to resolve the dispute at a meeting held in Johannesburg were unsuccessful.
The dispute revolves around wage increases for the second year of the proposed two-year agreement and a demand for additional family responsibility leave for workers.
According to Seifsa the trade unions are also insisting that employers place further restrictions on the use of labour broker employees.
The employers, however, did not agree to these demands.
The meeting ended with the unions requesting the bargaining council to issue a certificate stating that the dispute remained unresolved, thereby opening the way for potential strike and lock-out action.
Seifsa, however, said that during the course of the negotiations, a “very favourable” offer has been made to the trade unions. – I-Net Bridge