BL Premium reports that employers in the automotive sector have offered unions a multi-term wage agreement for increases of up to 6.2%, but a pay-hike deal has yet to be hammered out.

More talks scheduled for next week. The Automobile Manufacturers Employers Organisation (Ameo), the employer body representing Toyota Motors SA, Nissan, Isuzu, Ford, VW SA, BMW SA and Mercedes-Benz, has reportedly proposed increases of 6.2% in the first year, 5.6% in year two and 4.7% in the final year of a three-year deal. But according to Irvin Jim, general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), the sector could absorb the union’s “justified” demand for a one-year 20% wage increase. The SA Reserve Bank (Sarb) has forecast headline inflation of 6.5% for 2022. Workers in the sector had not earned an increase in the last two years due to Covid-19 and the shortage of semiconductors, said Jim. “Therefore, when you include all this and the extremely high cost of living, our demands are entirely justified.” Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said on Monday that parties had not “moved much” from their positions. “There are engagements that are happening between ourselves and auto employers. We will be meeting again on August 15, 16 and 17. We will engage in the national bargaining forum. We would prefer to comment after that engagement,” she indicated.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)

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