Confusion raged yesterday as the National Employers Association of SA (Neasa) publicly disassociated itself from the wage settlement signed in the metals and engineering sector.
President of the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council, Victor Radebe, called for all parties to reach consensus.
To those who had signed the agreement, Radebe said: “Now that we have reached this agreement, it is up to you to protect it and uphold it.”
But Gerhard Papenfus, the chief executive of Neasa, said the employer body was not a signatory to this deal and was therefore not bound by it.
Strikers attempting to return to work at Neasa-affiliated employers might be locked out, he said.
The wage settlement was signed by the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa), the National Union of Metalworkers of Southern Africa (Numsa), and five other unions.
The matter is now most certainly destined for the Labour Court yet again.
Papenfus said Seifsa represented at most 2 039 employers, or below 18 percent in the industry, which has between 12 000 and 14 000 employees.
“This means that at least 10 000 to 12 000 employers, or more than 80 percent of the industry, are unaffected by this agreement.”
He said Neasa would petition Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant not to extend the agreement to parties who did not sign it.
“If she goes ahead and extends it, Neasa will institute review proceedings in the Labour Court,” Papenfus said.
Neasa successfully went to court with the last three-year agreement that lapsed on June 30, where it was set aside for four months.
The case was back in court again on July 2, when judgment was reserved.
Neasa has offered as a settlement an 8 percent across-the-board increase, a reduced entry level wage, and an improved exemptions policy, which will allow for improved flexibility.
“Seifsa has ‘reluctantly’ agreed to this settlement and admitted that it will inevitably result in ‘massive job losses’.
“Therefore, how can anyone refer to this settlement as one which will bring stability to the industry? This is nothing else than an arrangement which will speed up the demise of the metal industry, causing worsened unemployment and poverty, and therefore socio-economic instability,” said Papenfus.
A 14-week strike by members of Numsa at the Ngqura Container Terminal had been declared illegal by the Labour Court yesterday, Transnet said.
All striking Transnet workers were ordered to return to work today. - Business Report