Wage increases for employees in South Africa’s metals and engineering industries have been finalised weeks ahead of the expiry of the current agreement on June 30, the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa (Seifsa) said in on Tuesday.
The increases range from 5,5% for skilled workers to 6,5% for unskilled workers.
The increases were calculated in accordance with a wage model that was agreed with the industry trade unions during last year’s industry negotiations, said Seifsa.
Apart from the wage increases there are no other changes to employment conditions for this second year of the industry’s two-year agreement.
The Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council has submitted the new agreement to the Department of Labour and has requested the minister of labour to publish the agreement and make it legally binding on all employers and scheduled employees in the industry for the period July 1 2006 to June 30 2007, Seifsa said.
The agreement covers more than 9 000 companies and 260 000 employees.
It is anticipated that the increases will be gazetted on or before expiry of the current agreement on June 30, Seifsa said. — I-Net Bridge