SOLIDARITY'S SPURIOUS CLAIMS DEVOID OF TRUTH
27 June 2014
JOHANNESBURG, 27June 2014 - Claims by Solidarity that a lock-out notice issued by the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) to all six unions that were involved in negotiations on wages and conditions of employment in the sector was in response to the union's request for negotiations to be extended for another 21 days is totally devoid of truth, SEIFSA Chief Executive Officer Kaizer Nyatsumba said today.
Responding to the wild claims by Solidarity - which stood solidly with NUMSA and other trade unions during the negotiations - Nyatsumba said that it was regrettable that Solidary General Secretary Gideon du Plessis had seen fit to make sensational allegations that were not backed by facts, without bothering to check with him if the information fed to him was accurate.
"The 24-hour lock-out notice issued by SEIFSA to all six unions yesterday afternoon was in response to a notice to strike received by all employers from NUMSA yesterday afternoon, following the expiry of the 30-day period of the Dispute Resolution Procedures within the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC) on 25 June," Mr Nyatsumba said.
He explained that Clause 3(c) of the MEIBC Constitution provides that if a dispute has not been settled within 30 days from the date on which it was referred to the Council, and if within that period the parties have not agreed on a process to resolve the dispute, any party is entitled "to pursue whatever means are available in the Labour Relations Act to process that dispute".
He explained that, contrary to Solidarity's propaganda, the issuing of a lock-out notice was fully mandated by the SEIFSA Council - which is made up of Chairpersons of all employer Associations that are members of the Federation - at its special meeting on Monday, 23 June.
Mr Nyatsumba dismissed as blatant untruth Solidarity's claim that SEIFSA had agreed to the union's request for a 21-day extension to the dispute in order to allow negotiations to continue. He said that upon receipt of Solidarity's written request, he had written back to the union advising it to table its proposal before the Management Committee of the MEIBC.
"My exact response to Solidarity's request was the following: ‘Therefore, we are, in principle, favourably disposed to the continuation of negotiations with all the parties in an endeavour to reach a mutually-satisfactory agreement. Accordingly, we propose that you approach the General Secretary of the Bargaining Council as a matter of urgency with a request for the convening of an urgent Management Committee meeting to get your request discussed - and hopefully agreed upon - by all the parties. We will be guided in that meeting by the positions adopted by the other interested parties'.
"How Solidarity could have concluded, from so specific a reply, that SEIFSA had agreed to its request is absolutely baffling," My Nyatsumba said.
A copy of Mr Nyatsumba's reply to the letter from Solidarity Mr Francois van Heerden accompanied this press release for the media's information.
Mr Nyatsumba added that only the SEIFSA Council, which had approved the mandate to issue a general lock-out notice to all six unions, could review that decision and advise on the appropriate course of action in light of Solidarity's threatened legal action.
Statement issued by SEIFSA CEO, Kaizer Nyatsuma, June 27 2014
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