BL Premium reports that according to the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), workers at Macsteel are back at work following a strike after the steel producer “forcefully retrenched” workers for allegedly rejecting a R40,000 retrenchment package.
The weeklong strike ended on Friday after parties reached a deal that saw those retrenched “placed in jobs within Macsteel”. Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said they had retained their full benefits, wages and conditions of employment. Only five workers did not take up the offer to be reinstated, electing to accept the retrenchment package. “The union has resolved to meet these workers to ascertain whether indeed that is their final position on the matter, and to make sure that they understand that whatever job they had chosen at Macsteel, even if it was a lower position/grade, the union has ensured that they will not lose their salary scale in terms of grades,” Jim said.
Jim added: “The union embarked on this strike as a last resort after Macsteel refused to consider meaningful alternatives that the union advanced in the section 189A consultation process. This includes Macsteel’s refusal to pay workers a decent severance pay package, something the union condemns in the strongest terms.” Jim called on the Department of Employment and Labour to “set a minimum standard for severance packages that is fair, so that companies cannot pay lower than the minimum floor”.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive
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