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ANA reports that the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) says that it is 100 percent in solidarity with its affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), in the union’s struggle to negotiate a new wage agreement in the metal and engineering industries sector.
This comes after Numsa said on Wednesday that wage negotiations with employers in the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC) had deadlocked. Numsa rejected the employers' offer of a 5.3% wage increase earlier this month, insisting on its demand for a 15% increase across the board. Additionally, employers apparently wish to slash entry level salaries by 50% to R20 per hour. Noting that the employers were trying to impose wage decreases which would see new workers in the sector earning only half of the current minimum rate, Saftu commented that it was a ”life-and-death battle” and that if employers got what they wanted “they would have set a dangerous precedent which their colleagues in other sectors are sure to be quick to copy.”
- Read this report in full at Business Report
- Read Saftu’s press statement in this regard at Saftu online
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page