Reuters reports that unions said on Tuesday they had agreed to a three-year wage deal for metal and engineering sector workers, ending weeks of difficult negotiations and averting an industry strike.  

Employers’ body Saefa (SA Engineers’ and Founders’ Association), which is a former affiliate of the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of SA (Seifsa) ehich represented employers in the talks, said they have agreed to a deal to give workers a 7% increase in 2017, 6.75% in 2018 and 6.5% in 2019.  Trade union Solidarity would only say that wage increases would be between 6.5% and 7%.  Solidarity and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), the two biggest unions involved in the talks, said they would sign an agreement with Seifsa on Wednesday.

• A short report by Tanisha Heiberg and Wendell Roelf is at BusinessLive

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page