Cape Town – THE National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) mobilised its members across the country in a march against the Retail Motor Industry (RMI) to urgently ratify a wage agreement they said was signed months ago.
Numsa secretary-general Irvin Jim said the RMI is the biggest employer association in the motor sector.
“We want the RMI to ratify the wage agreement which was signed by them in January 2019. The agreement has not been ratified due to the RMI’s deliberate attempts to frustrate the operations of the Motor Industry Bargaining Council (Mibco). We demand the urgent ratification of the settlement agreement so it can be sent to the Department of Employment and Labour to be gazetted,” Jim said.
National RMI manager Jeff Molefe received Numsa’s memorandum in Johannesburg.
RMI chief executive Jan Schoeman said it was not up to them to ratify the agreement.
“The RMI alone cannot ratify the wage agreement. It requires a resolution by the Mibco, of which the RMI is only one of four parties. Mibco is in the process of convening a general meeting of councillors to ratify the agreement. The agreement was not signed in January 2019, but in January 2020.”
Schoeman further denied that thousands of employees had not received an 8% increase.
“Many employers have implemented the increases on a voluntary basis. We need to clarify that there is not a standard 8% increase for all employees. This percentage only applies to a small portion of the industry,” said Schoeman.
Mibco and the Department of Labour did not respond to requests for comment.
Numsa said they would also be marching to Mibco offices to demand that the bargaining council “gets its house in order”.
Cape Times