Bloomberg reports that formal wage bargaining between the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) and the Automobile Manufacturers Employers Organisation covering the local units of automakers will begin on 21 June 2016.
Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim commented: “I think we are heading for very tough negotiations. We hope we can resolve these negotiations without repeating the past.’’ A two-week strike in 2013 cost the sector at least R20bn in revenue. Numsa plans to argue for a one-year agreement, instead of the usual three years, and 20% wage increases, it said in a statement after its national bargaining conference in April. It added though that the negotiations were a “give and take’’. Jim said on Friday: “We know that we are negotiating under very tough conditions given the state of the economy. We take a very firm view that capital goes through booms and busts and workers should not be paying for difficult times because when things are good the bosses still make money.’’
- Read this report by Liezel Hill and Arabile Gumede in full at Moneyweb
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page