Numsa, SA’s largest trade union, had a good run in this year’s rounds of wage talks, clinching above-inflation wage increases without having to resort to strike action — largely thanks to its skilled “dream team” negotiators.
The dream team comprises Numsa’s “engineering guru” Vusumzi Mabho, Mduduzi Nkosi and Frederick Mabasa, who were all instrumental in the National Union of Metalworkers of SA signing various pay deals.
“We are inspired by their ability to constantly pull a rabbit out of a hat and secure good deals for our members,” said Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola.
A week ago Numsa signed a wage deal in the motor sector for increases of 6% in the first year, 5% in the second year and another 5% in the final year of the agreement. Inflation is hovering around 3%.
The wage deal is set to benefit more than 300,000 workers falling under the Motor Industries Bargaining Council (Mibco). The union also recently signed a two-year wage deal with pharmaceutical sector bosses for an increase of 5.5% from July 1, which rises to 6% from January 2026, and another 5.5% increase from July 2026, increasing to 6% from January 2027.
The pay deal will benefit 10,000 workers in a sector dominated by pharmaceutical giants including Aspen Pharmacare and Adcock Ingram.
In June, Numsa clinched a two-year deal with the Glass Industry Employers Association that will see employees receiving a 5.5% wage increase in 2025 and 6% in 2026. The deal covers 13,000 employers in the sector, which is expected to become a major player in the global glass market with imports reaching $321.6m by 2026 — an increase of 1.3% compared with 2021.
In the same month, Numsa signed a multiterm wage deal with five employers in the country’s multibillion-rand plastics sector, which is set to be extended to nonparties in an industry employing about 34,000 workers nationally.
The wage agreement would see workers getting pay increases of 7% effective July 1, a 6% increase effective July 2026 and another 6% increase from July 2027. The inflation rate slightly increased from the 2.7% recorded in March to 2.8% in April.
In July, Numsa reached a one-year deal with Gautrain operator Bombela Operating Company (BOC) for a 4.2% wage deal after employees voted against going on strike. The deal came after Numsa revised its wage demand from 7% to 6%.
It also came after parties recently reached consensus on four key demands, including on a housing allowance of R1,400 (now R1,300), transport allowance of R125 (R112), night shift allowance of R40/hour (R37/hour) and performance bonus of R10,016 (R9,612).
In January, Numsa called off a looming strike action at Silulumanzi, a water services company in Mbombela, Mpumalanga, after parties agreed to a 6.5% pay increase. Numsa had been demanding a 7% wage increase, which it later revised down to 6.5%.
The wage demands were drawn up during Numsa’s national bargaining conference held at Sandton, Joburg, earlier this year.
Employers in the metals, engineering and plastics industries heard us, listened to us and we found one another after tough rounds of negotiation.
— Vusumzi Mabho
Numsa acting engineering sector co-ordinator
Numsa acting engineering sector co-ordinator Vusumzi Mabho said: “Successful negotiations are not measured by strike action. Numsa is a revolutionary and militant trade union and we do not shy away from strike action when employers make it impossible for our negotiators to search for compromises and find common ground.
“Our record speaks for itself and we know concessions we have been able to extract from employers, over many rounds of negotiations in the metals and engineering and plastic industry, have come off the back of Numsa being prepared to explore all options before resorting to strike action and, most importantly, a carefully crafted strategy and set of tactics endorsed by our conference earlier this year.”
Mabho said the union’s mandate was always to settle on above-inflation increases. “We reject the narrative that workers should bear the brunt of low increases when the cost of living, as it affects workers on the ground regarding bread, petrol, transport, basic foodstuffs, electricity, water, lights and so on, is nowhere near the single low-level digits that are reported every month by Stats SA.
“Workers demanded above-inflation increases. This was endorsed by our conference and negotiators were tasked with delivering deals in the sectors they negotiated by making use of all negotiating tactics, including being prepared, as an option of last resort, to resort to strike action,” he said.
“Employers in the metals, engineering and plastics industries heard us, listened to us and we found one another after tough rounds of negotiation.
“We ultimately concluded deals that were of a win-win nature…. workers received above-inflation increases in addition to other benefits and employers in return received a three-year period of industrial stability and certainty.”
Mabho said it took a “lot of persuasion and convincing that a deal was doable at rates workers would be prepared to accept and employers would be prepared to pay. The alternative was a drawn-out and costly exercise of dispute declaration with the threat of strike action on the horizon, which would have been to both parties’ detriment.”
Mabho said it demonstrated that “collective bargaining works, that demands on the back of a militant but disciplined membership base carry weight, that mandates mean something, that when members task their union to achieve an end goal, we deliver. Only through force of numbers do employers hear us.”
Numsa has more than 460,000 members.
Nkosi, who led negotiations in the motor sector, said what had been achieved was no small feat.
“They were very difficult, protracted negotiations. When we started management was insisting on a CPI-based increase and at the time it was 2.9%. But we were very firm and pointed in our demands. We were fighting for everything and all allowances were adjusted upwards. We outdid ourselves in the motor sector this time around,” Nkosi said.
Mabasa, the national co-ordinator for the chemical and security sector, said the sector was “problematic” as it was faced with many cheap glass imports from countries such as China. And that’s the excuse employers used during negotiations in refusing to accede to Numsa’s demands, Mabasa noted.
The employers initially offered increases of 1%-1.5%.
“Employers were saying we must withdraw our seven key demands. We refused. For the past 10 years there had been no movement on these key demands, including shift and heat allowances, and long service awards,” Mabasa said.
“We put our foot down and said we are going on strike if they table anything below CPI.”
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