METAL INDUSTRY SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT COVERS LESS THAN 20% OF EMPLOYERS IN METAL INDUSTRY
The National Employers' Association of South Africa (NEASA) is extremely dissatisfied with the settlement that SEIFSA, NUMSA and five other unions entered into to bring a partial end to the Metal Industry strike. Today NUMSA and five other unions announced that they accepted SEIFSA's wage offer of 10% on the lowest grades for three years, as well as a complete capitulation by SEIFSA in respect of Section 37 which talks to the aspect of two tier bargaining. This is once again an illustration of big business's eagerness to capitulate to the pressure exerted by trade unions.
‘By giving in to the pressure from trade unions, SEIFSA is once again letting the Industry down, especially small and medium businesses. It has set a very sombre tone for future negotiations,' says NEASA Chief Executive Gerhard Papenfus.
NEASA reiterates that this settlement will only serve to further destabilise the Industry.
‘Through this settlement SEIFSA has agreed to a wage increase of 3,4% above inflation (calculated on the current rate of inflation) for three years. SEIFSA has 'reluctantly' agreed to this settlement and admitted that it will inevitable result in ‘massive job losses'. Therefore, how can anyone refer to this settlement as one which will bring stability to the Industry? This is nothing else than an arrangement which will speed up the demise of the Metal Industry, causing worsened unemployment and poverty and therefore socio-economic instability,' Papenfus said
At the beginning of these negotiations the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA) pointed out that this Industry had lost 250 000 over the last 5 years. The General Secretary of the Bargaining Council (MEIBC) recently on national television said that the industry lost 700 000 employees. The employment levels in manufacturing is now what it was in 1972. The Metal Industry is on average 40% more expensive than other industries covered by bargaining council agreements.