Metal and engineering industry strike action could be over on Tuesday if talks succeed, both unions and employers said on Tuesday morning.
Talks between unions and the Steel and Engineering Industry Federation of South Africa (Seifsa) resumed at 10am in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
Seifsa spokesperson Dave Carson said they were ”reasonably confident” the strike could be resolved on Tuesday.
He said negotiations were at a sensitive stage.
Carson said Seifsa’s current offer stood at a 7,5% to 8,5% increase and an ”movement upward” might be expected on Tuesday.
He said there had been a ”mixed bag” effect of strike action on the industry.
Carson said some larger companies had reported a total withdrawal of labour and other medium and smaller companies had reported partial or smaller stayaways.
Carson said after the morning negotiations, Seifsa would be meeting at 3pm and possibly reconvening with the unions at around 5pm.
Spokesperson for Solidarity Jaco Kleynhans said all parties at the negotiations understood the ”urgency was there” to conclude the the strike.
He said he hoped employers would come to the table with a new offer.
”We don’t want to strike forever,” he said.
Kleynhans said unions were still asking for a 10% increase and would have to consult with their members about any new offers put forward by employers.
He said about 70% of their 28 000 Solidarity members had been on strike on Monday and that their members would conduct stayaways on Tuesday.
National Union of Metalworkers’ of South Africa spokesperson Mziwakhe Hlangani said a resolution to the strike ”might be possible because all trade unions involved are approaching negotiations with an open mind”.
He said there was ”no way” the union would settle for any amount less than a ”two digit increase”.
Hlangani said 150 000 Numsa members were on strike on Tuesday and would be conducting stay-aways and holding shop-steward councils during the day.
Hlangani said his union was ”very satisfied” with how the strike was going.
On Monday Numsa, Solidarity, the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers’ Union, the Metal and Electrical Workers’ Union of South Africa, the Mineworkers’ Union and the South African Equity Workers’ Association all embarked on strike action following a breakdown in wage negotiations last weekend. – Sapa