A breakthrough could be expected at talks between metals and engineering employers and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), Mokgadi Pela, the spokesman for Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant, said last night.
“They are very close to each other on the wage side,” he said, adding that he could not disclose the figure.
Pela said the parties could defer discussions on Numsa’s other demands, such as a ban on labour brokers and the youth subsidy, until later.
He said a similar meeting on Friday had resulted in the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) increasing its wage offer, although he refused to give a figure.
Numsa said yesterday that wage talks to end the week-old strike would resume today and employers had not presented new offers to the union.
“If the employers can present something that we strongly feel we can take back to our members for a mandate, we will gladly do that,” spokesman Castro Ngobese said.
“But in the absence of that, the strike continues.”
Workers at components factories supplying the General Motors plant in Port Elizabeth remained on strike yesterday but the car maker said it had enough inventory for domestic and export customers for the medium term.
More than 200 000 members of Numsa stopped work last week demanding a salary hike of 12 percent. The union has rejected Seifsa’s updated 10 percent offer.
Numsa wants any wage agreement to apply for only a year but companies want a three-year deal.
The strike has been marred by attacks and acts of violence.
“The strike in the metal and engineering sector has impacted on supply of components to our production line, resulting in our line not being operational since July 3,” General Motors South Africa spokeswoman Denise van Huyssteen said. “To date we have lost three days of production.”
Last week BMW South Africa brought forward a week-long planned shutdown at its plant for maintenance, spokesman Guy Kilfoil said.
“We were going to close the plant [outside Pretoria] at some point during the year for maintenance anyway because we knew the strike was coming,” he said, adding that the factory would reopen today.
Mercedes-Benz South Africa said there had been no effect so far at its local operations, while Toyota South Africa Motors said it was at “full production”.
Seifsa chief executive Kaizer Nyatsumba remained optimistic that the union would consider its latest offer.
Speaking on SABC television, Nyatsumba said some of Numsa’s demands were unfairly placed before the employers. Issues such as labour brokers should be directed at the government instead.
Nyatsumba said that although employers had agreed to double-digit wage increases this year, there had been a lot of changes in the economy, which forced them to hold back on some of those agreements.
Nyatsumba said union leaders should refrain from making statements that sought to undermine the well-being of the country.
He added that the economy was struggling and he warned that if the strike did not end soon, it would push the country into a recession.
Talks between the National Employers’ Association of SA (Neasa) and Numsa on Friday failed to produce a solution to the deadlock, Gerhard Papenfus, the chief executive of the association, said yesterday.
Neasa is the largest employer organisation in South Africa with 23 000 members and is also the largest employers’ organisation on the metal and engineering industry bargaining council, representing approximately 3 000 businesses, primarily small and medium-sized enterprises.
Neasa met Numsa in bilateral negotiations in an attempt to find a resolution.
The association is offering an 8 percent wage increase.
Papenfus said the offer was subject to an agreement on the establishment of a reduced entry-level wage and the adoption of measures to make the industry more flexible, all in an attempt to revive the sector.