Deadlock in negotiations on wages in steel industry

NEGOTIATIONS which would set wages and employment conditions for thousands of steel and engineering industry employees for the next three years have stalled as a dispute over the talks rages on among the industry’s major employer associations.

At the centre of the wrangle is an agreement negotiated between one employer association, the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa), and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) in August.

This agreement has raised the ire of other employer associations, such as the South African Engineers and Founders’ Association (Saefa), which accused Seifsa and Numsa of engaging in bilateral negotiations.

They have not accepted the terms negotiated by Seifsa and Numsa as binding to the industry.

Saefa has accused Seifsa of embarking on a fund-raising drive among its affiliated associations towards establishing a legal fund to facilitate the submission of their wage agreement to the labour minister.

“The goal leading up to the 2017 wage negotiations was to ensure that an inclusive deal was reached, representing the interests of employer and labour bodies equally,” Saefa chairman David Anderson said.

He said the negotiations were stalled and that it was not yet clear whether the impasse would be overcome by the end of the year.

“The majority of employers in the industry are not in favour of this deal because, not only were their representative associations excluded, but it failed to take into account critical employer demands that were tabled to address the dire need for job creation in an industry that has been steadily bleeding jobs,” he said.

A major point of contention between the parties is controversial proposals to create employment in the industry by introducing new, unskilled entrants at below minimum wage level. This proposal was rejected by Numsa. Secretary general of the union, Irvin Jim, said he believed the August negotiations had been concluded with the majority of employers and that they were legitimate and representative of the greater steel and engineering industry.

Seifsa said it had nothing to add at this point.