Business Report writes that the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has welcomed a settlement agreement it signed with Hulamin.

On Friday, the KwaZulu-Natal-based aluminium semi-fabricator and exporter notified its shareholders that an agreement had been reached and said the company expected to be fully operational this week. Numsa members went on strike on 10 July. “We are pleased to confirm that we were able to find each other on [these] two crucial issues, and end the strike,” Numsa general secretary Irwin Jim, said in a statement. Part of the dispute that triggered the strike was that the union wanted the employer to equalise the contributions to the pension and provident funds. There is an in-house pension fund to which some workers belong called the Hulamin Pension Fund to which the employer was contributing 12.5%. However, when it came to the provident fund contributions to the Metals and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC), known as the MIBFA fund, the employer was only contributing 7.9%. “Our members demanded that the bosses must ensure that they equalise the contribution by increasing it from 7.9% to 12.5%,” said Jim. The strike helped to secure this demand, because instead of the employer phasing in this increase over three years, the increase was immediate, he indicated. In addition, the employer agreed to increase its medical aid contribution to 49.5% from a cap of 40% previously.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Edward West at Business Report

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