Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant will meet with Numsa and employers in the metal and engineering industry in a bid to end the strike.
This follows the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa’s (Seifsa) withdrawal of its latest offer after it was rejected by Numsa. The union has resolved to strike indefinitely until its demands are met. Oliphant wants to find out why both sides failed to reach an agreement after indications last week pointed to a possibility that the two parties were closer to a settlement on wages, although they could not find a common ground relating to job growth and security, SAnews.gov.za reported. “I have to meet with them so that they can explain what has happened or what went wrong and look at the possibility of really coming to the table to finalise this particular issue because as a country we can’t really afford a prolonged strike because as we speak, the steel and engineering sector is a key critical sector when it comes to the infrastructure of the country,” she said.Seifsa Chief Executive Officer Kaizer Nyatsumba says the federation will now focus its efforts to resolve the current impasse in the wage negotiations through facilitated discussions with all stakeholders within the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council.
“While it remains very concerned about the damage wreaked on the economy by the current industrial action, the Seifsa Council has now accepted reluctantly that Numsa appeared determined to continue with the strike indefinitely. The Council stressed the need for a reasonable, three-year wage settlement that would give the sector an opportunity to focus on business during this period, without worrying about the possibility of wage-related strikes each year,” Seifsa said in a statement. Nyatsumba said that the strike, which has been costing the country more than R300 million per day in the metals and engineering sector alone, is now inflicting even more damage to the economy as it has affected other related sectors like auto manufacturing.
