The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of SA (Seifsa) said on Monday it had declared a counter dispute against metalworkers union Numsa over its refusal to accept a proposed wage hike deal for the embattled sector.
The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), the country’s largest metalworkers’ union with 360,000 members, is demanding a one-year, 15% salary increase across the board.
It declared a dispute on Thursday last week.
During a negotiating meeting held at the Metals and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC) on July 28, Seifsa, which represents 19 employer organisations employing about 190,000 workers, proposed a multiterm agreement that will 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.
In its July forecast, the SA Reserve Bank sees headline CPI averaging 4.3% in 2021, 4.2% in 2022 and 4.5% in 2023.
Seifsa said in a statement that 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”.
Seifsa has said the sector is still very much “in the throes of deep distress” made worse by declining steel prices due to an increase in cheap imported steel.
The three-year wage agreement signed by unions and Seifsa at the MEIBC in 2017, in terms of which employees receive almost R50 an hour, expired on June 30 2020. The parties agreed to extend it until June 30 2021 because they could not meet in the bargaining council for wage talks due to stringent lockdown regulations at the time.
“With Numsa having registered their dispute on July 29 and Seifsa’s affiliated employer associations lodging their dispute [on Monday], the bargaining council, in accordance with its constitution, has scheduled a special management committee meeting on August 10 between all the negotiating parties in order to decide how to break the deadlock,” Seifsa CEO Lucio Trentini said in a statement.
Trentini explained that a counter dispute is a mechanism whereby the employer declares 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”.
“It’s basically a mechanism to keep a balance on what could happen on the union’s side and on the employer’s side. It’s all about keeping a balance of power,” he said.
He said the proposed offer was aimed at ensuring the survival, recovery, growth and sustainability of the industry “in an environment of industrial peace, stability and certainty”.
“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,” said Trentini.
“More than ever, we need to find the right balance of protecting jobs, ensuring fair wages, and making sure that companies are able to keep their doors open,” he said, adding that Seifsa remains committed to continuing negotiations with a view to “find common ground”.
Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said the union will hold a media briefing on Tuesday to respond to proposals made by employers.
Meanwhile, Seifsa announced on Monday that Trentini, who served as Seifsa operations director, had been appointed the federation's CEO with immediate effect. He replaces Kaizer Nyatsumba who resigned in July, though the employer body had lifted a suspension from May.
Trentini said: “I look forward to working with the Seifsa board and executive team to ensure that we continue to deliver efficient, effective and reliable service and support to all of Seifsa’s members, associations and their member companies.”
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