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Trade union Solidarity announced on Monday that it had entered into an ‘historic’ wage agreement with the SA Engineers and Founders Association (Saefa) within the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC).
Willie Venter, Deputy General Secretary for the Metal and Engineering Industry at Solidarity, explained that the union was forced by circumstances to start negotiating separately with employers. “Although it is a pity that the various employers’ organisations could not agree on the content for one overarching agreement, we are still extremely happy about the agreement reached with Saefa,” said Venter, who described it as fair and satisfactory settlement given the current economic conditions. In terms of the deal, an annual increase of 6% on the minimum wage scale will be granted for all rankings, for the next three years, up to and including 2024. All other existing conditions and benefits will be retained. Solidarity also welcomed Saefa’s undertaking that further negotiations could lead to the scope of the agreement being extended to other divisions in the companies such as administrative staff. Solidarity pointed out that although no agreement had yet been reached with other employers’ organisations in the council, the industry and the economy would not be able to handle large-scale strikes. “Currently, we are not involved in disputes with other employers’ organisations. We are still negotiating and we want to engage in more talks with employers to reach an agreement. Therefore, we have taken the responsible decision and we are acting in accordance with the mandate of our members when we explain that we are not currently considering participating in strikes in the industry,” Venter indicated.
- Read Solidarity’s press statement in the above regard at Solidarity News
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