Numsa plans massive strike

Engineering, plastics sectors to take a knock

The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) is preparing mass action which it describes as the “the mother of all battles” in the plastics and engineering sectors.

In correspondence seen by Sowetan, Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim urged regional secretaries to undertake a “fighting campaign involving every factory to defend collective bargaining and improve workers’wages”.

This comes as the CCMA warned of dysfunctionalities in the country’s collective bargaining system.

“For the past 15-16 years we are still negotiating in the same manner. Nothing has changed. It means that we are not learning anything,” Shimane Kgantse, the acting senior commissioner for mediation and collective bargaining, told a mining forum last week.

Last month, labour analysts warned that the emergence of the South African Federation of Trade Unions, to which Numsa is affiliated, could push Numsa to strike to demonstrate its militancy.

The union represents about 120 000 workers in the engineering sector, while it is negotiating with over 10 000 employers in the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC), which covers over 350000 employees.

Numsa is demanding a 15% wage increase in the metal and engineering sector, and engineering employers have thus far offered 5.3%. The union has accused employers organisations of undermining collective bargaining processes.

Kgantse said the propensity to resort to industrial action hurts the economy and could limit potential for sustained growth – more so in light of SA’s socioeconomic pressures.