This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.
BL Premium reports that the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of SA (Seifsa) said on Monday it had declared a counter dispute against the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) over the union’s refusal to accept a proposed wage hike deal for the metals and engineering sector.
Numsa declared a dispute on Thursday last week. The union is demanding a one-year, 15% salary increase across the board. During a negotiating meeting held at the Metals and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC) on 28 July, Seifsa, which represents 19 employer organisations employing about 190,000 workers, proposed a multi-term agreement that would see workers receiving a 4.4% increase in 2021, a consumer price index (CPI) plus 0.5% rise in 2022 and CPI plus 1% in 2023. As part of the proposed agreement, “a special phase-in dispensation will be offered to employers who are currently paying below the current minimum rates and are not members of an employer organisation that is a party to the main agreement”. According to Seifsa, the sector was still very much “in the throes of deep distress”, made worse by declining steel prices due to an increase in cheap imported steel. Seifsa CEO Lucio Trentini explained that a counter dispute was a mechanism whereby the employer declared a dispute after a union had declared a dispute, “so that in the event Numsa elects to go on strike, which we hope not, then employers will have a right to implement a lockout”. Trentini indicated that Seifsa “remains resolute that its settlement offer is the best way forward to ensure a sustainable metals and engineering industry in these uncertain economic times.”
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page