Seifsa brings metal and engineering industry to a halt with a lockout notice -Solidarity requests confidential ballot among Seifsa members
In response to Solidarity's request yesterday that the dispute round in the metal and engineering industry should be extended by 21 days so that a negotiated settlement could be reached, the employers' organisation Seifsa served Solidarity and the other trade unions involved in the Metal and Engineering Industry Bargaining Council with a lockout notice this morning. This lockout notice served by Seifsa, the largest employers' organisation in the bargaining council, means that the employer organisation itself has now brought the industry to a halt, and with it a great deal of harm to its members and the economy in general.
In terms of the notice, Solidarity and all the other unions will be locked out of the various places of employment as from Tuesday, 1 July 2014, when the strike by Numsa members announced yesterday commences.
Solidarity General Secretary Gideon du Plessis said that Solidarity's 22 000 members in the industry are now prohibited to work and continue with production, even though they never intended to go on strike. "Seifsa has already been placed on terms by Solidarity, that the lockout notice will be contested since it has never been Solidarity's intention to strike. We want collective bargaining to succeed because the people of South Africa simply cannot afford another devastating strike."
Du Plessis said that Seifsa's actions are so out of touch with their own members that Solidarity requests a confidential ballot within the employer organisation. "Since Seifsa's lockout notice was served, Solidarity has been inundated by Seifsa members who want to distance themselves from Seifsa and who want to collaborate with Solidarity on an individual basis in order to continue with production. We believe that Seifsa's leadership does not have a proper mandate for its current actions and that a confidential ballot will expose this state of affairs."
Du Plessis expressed his disapproval of the fact that, contrary to MEIBC dispute rules, Thulani Mthiyane, new head of the MEIBC, prematurely issued a certificate to all parties declaring a final deadlock. This certificate now gives Numsa and Seifsa the opportunity to strike instead of engaging in further negotiations while production continues.