This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.
BusinessDay reports that the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has threatened to embark on a strike after reaching a wage deadlock with SA’s seven car manufacturers.
It described the above-inflation, multiterm wage offer from employers as an “insult” and a “serious provocation” to its members. The employers have proposed an increase of 6.5% for the first year and 5% for each of the following two years, with a R10,000 once-off gratuity, which has been rejected by the union. The inflation rate is 3.4%.
Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said the sector was capable of providing workers with a “reasonable and fair wage increase, even under the current challenges facing the sector.” Given what he described as the employers’ “intransigent stance” for refusing to revise their offers, Jim said the union might have no choice but to go on strike as a last resort, notwithstanding the gravity of such action and its negative effects on the industry, both in the short and long term. “The union leadership was very clear ... that a meeting of CEOs and Numsa’s national leadership must be arranged urgently, no later than Tuesday. Such a meeting should do everything possible, with parties willing to move from their positions, to break the current deadlock in the industry and prevent a possible strike,” Jim indicated.
The Automobile Manufacturers Employers Organisation (Ameo) said the current offer was both responsible and sustainable and balanced competitiveness, affordability and job preservation, avoiding a scenario where excessive wage escalation could trigger retrenchments or reduced investment from global parent companies.”
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessDay (subscriber access only)
Get other news reports at the SA LabourNews home page