The National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (Numsa) is threatening a strike over salary increase dispute in the engineering and steel industry.
Workers want an 8% increase, which is lower than its previous 15 % wage demand, however employers are offering 4.4%.
We presented a counter-proposal. Our proposal is 8% increase ATB for 2021. CPI + 2% improvement factor for 2022 and 2023 years. If CPI + 2% falls below 6%, employers must offer 6% or reopen negotiations. #EngineeringTalks
.@IrvinJimSA
.@SAFTU_media— NUMSA (@Numsa_Media) August 3, 2021
Numsa Spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola says the wage negotiations have deadlocked.
“Indeed, we have deadlocked in the sector of engineering, and we are currently following dispute resolution mechanism. There is still time, and we are still engaging with the employers. We hope to avoid a strike but if employers don’t meet us halfway then unfortunately it does mean that strike action is inevitable.”
We have deadlocked with employers in Engineering (MEIBC). Since 2014 some of our members have not received their owed increases due to hostile associations in the MEIBC which have sabotaged the main agreement.
(A Thread)#EngineeringTalks
.@IrvinJimSA
.@SAFTU_media— NUMSA (@Numsa_Media) August 3, 2021
The union says it also against the government’s plan to allow retirement fund members to access a portion of their pension funds in the midst of tough economic times.
More details in the video below:
