Numsa plans indefinite strike
The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) is set to embark on an indefinite national strike on October 5 in support of its demands of above-inflation increases in the steel and engineering sector. “We have secured a certificate of nonresolution,” Numsa said on Tuesday.
The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) is set to embark on an indefinite national strike on October 5 in support of its demands of above-inflation increases in the steel and engineering sector.
“We have secured a certificate of nonresolution, which allows the union and all its members in the engineering sector to embark on a national strike,” Numsa, the country’s largest metalworkers’ union with 360,000 members, said in a statement on Tuesday.
The sector, which has been a victim of declining steel prices due to an increase in cheap imported steel, represents an estimated 1.5% of GDP and is responsible for 190,000 jobs.
The sector grew in the years leading up to the 2010 Soccer World Cup as steel was a major component in the building of new stadiums and other infrastructure.
But these gains have been wiped off, with steelmaker ArcelorMittal SA saying in June 2020 that jobs were on the line as the industry struggled with the effect of Covid-19 on the economy.
The decision to embark on a strike was taken during Numsa’s special national executive committee meeting on Sunday. This was after the parties reached a wage deadlock in the Metals Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC) recently.
Numsa initially demanded a one-year, 15% pay increase across the board, but in August revised its wage demand down to 8%, after declaring a dispute at the MEIBC, which represents more than 430,000 workers in the engineering sector.
The union turned down a wage proposal by the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of SA (Seifsa) for a 4.4% increase in 2021, a consumer price index (CPI) plus 0.5% rise in 2022 and CPI plus 1% in 2023. In its July forecast, the SA Reserve Bank sees headline inflation averaging 4.3% in 2021, 4.2% in 2022 and 4.5% in 2023.
Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said that the looming national strike is a “clear rejection of the insulting offer which Seifsa advanced on behalf of employers”.
Jim said Numsa is calling on employers to meet its demand of an 8% increase across the board for the first year, and CPI +2% for the second and third years. “If CPI +2% falls below 6%, employers must offer 6% or reopen negotiations. This will settle the round of negotiations,” he said.
The three-year wage agreement signed by unions and Seifsa at the MEIBC in 2017, in terms of which employees receive almost R50 an hour, expired in June last year. The parties agreed to extend it until June 2021 because they could not meet in the bargaining council for wage talks due to stringent lockdown regulations at the time.
“Our members sacrificed their increases in order to save the engineering sector because of the Covid-19 pandemic by signing a standstill agreement in 2020. Employers have benefited from this, but they do not want to give anything back to workers,” said Jim.
THIS [STRIKE] WON ’ T DERAIL US FROM OUR GOAL TO SEE IF WE CAN AVOID A STRIKE AND CONCLUDE AN AGREEMENT
Lucio Trentini CEO of Seifsa
“The union resolved to embark on militant mobilisation of all workers in the engineering sector in order to embark on an indefinite national strike until workers’ demands are met. The strike will take place [from] October 5 and we will launch the strike with a national march.”
Lucio Trentini, CEO of Seifsa, the sector’s largest employer body representing 18 organisations that employ about 170,000 workers, told Business Day that the federation is aware of the looming strike.
“It’s a pity because the industry is not in a state where it can sustain an industrial action as it has been battered by the pandemic and the nonperformance of the economy over the past couple of months,” said Trentini.
“Seifsa is of the view that there is still time between now and October 5 to see if we can close the gap between Numsa and Seifsa. This [strike] won’t derail us from our goal to see if we can avoid a strike and conclude an agreement.”
A strike is the last thing the industry needs, he said.