COSATU salutes NUMSA victory
The Congress of South African Trade Unions welcomes the settlement reached between the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (NUMSA) and congratulates its members in the Engineering and Metals sector for their steadfast commitment to the struggle for a decent wage and other justified demands.
As NUMSA says: "The latest offer is a product of sweat and bitter struggles by our toiling workers for a living wage. It was a product of a four week long resolute battle to do away with the colonial apartheid wage dispensation in the Engineering/Metals sector. This is a massive victory given the pittance offer at the point of deadlock."
COSATU encourages other workers to follow NUMSA's example, and carry on the fight for similar improvements, the main features of which are:
A 10% wage increase every year for the lowest paid members for the next three years.
A commitment that employees engaged by labour brokers will continue to be entitled to all the terms and conditions of employment as contained in the Main Agreement. In order to enforce this, the Bargaining Council will employ labour broker compliance officers who will act on complaints of abuse and non-compliance from labour brokers.