STEEL INDUSTRY
Wage deal signed but not sealed as bosses split up
Employer organisations fail to reach consensus about wage offers
The wage agreement in the steel and engineering industry may have prevented a strike, but workers will have to wait a long time before benefiting from it. The wage deal that has hiked workers’ wages by up to 7% was signed only by five trade unions and a single employer body, while others planned to fight against being included in it. This followed the failure by employer organisations to reach consensus about wage offers during the initial stages of negotiations, as they opted to go their separate ways. While the Labour Relations Act made provision for the minister of labour to extend the agreement to nonsignatories, those opposed to the agreement — such as the National Employers’ Association of SA (Neasa) — said they would block its ratification at the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council. The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa), which signed the agreement last week, only accounts for 10% of employers at the council and also holds ...
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