The Labour Court in Johannesburg has rejected an application by Numsa to have the lock-out by employer members of the National Employers’ Association of South Africa (Neasa) declared illegal.

The application was brought by Numsa at the end of August. Neasa has engaged in a lockout of since the beginning of the strike in the metal and engineering sector. Despite the fact that the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) reached an agreement with Numsa to end the strike, Neasa refused to sign the agreement,

“This is a massive victory for labour relations in South Africa. We are grateful that the judge applied his mind to all the facts presented to him and that he found in favour of Neasa,” says Neasa Chief Executive Gerhard Papenfus.

 

Lock-out to continue

According to Papenfus, Neasa’s members will continue with the lock-out despite attempts by Numsa and Cosatu in the North West to try and intimidate employers who are participating in the exercise.

“These scare tactics will not have an effect on our decision to support the lock-out against union members. Neasa maintains that the lock-out is not compulsory for its members and will be enforced only by those employers who wish to execute the lock-out,” says Papenfus.

 

Neasa wants its demands considered

Neasa is adamant that it will continue its support to the lock-out until its demands are sufficiently considered.

“The driving force behind this lock-out is that NUMSA and the other unions must meet with us to resolve Neasa’s outstanding demands in order to get the lock-out lifted. Until this has happened, the lock-out will continue,” says Papenfus.

Papenfus added that this judgement significantly enforces Neasa’s view that our members cannot be bound by an agreement between Seifsa and Numsa. “Neasa will continue to resist all attempts to impose the unaffordable Seifsa-deal on our members,”concludes Papenfus.

 

Manufacturing industry on the up?

Despite the continued lock-out by Neasa members, Seifsa has reported that the he Kagiso Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) results for August represent renewed hope for the manufacturing sector.

The seasonally adjusted index improved 6% when compared with July, boosting confidence levels for the sector.

Seifsa Chief Economist Henk Langenhoven said that the PMI’s business activity sub-index was of interest to the metals and engineering sector since it leads production trends by between a year and 18 months. This index improved by 20% in August.

“However, confidence levels are highly volatile and very fragile. Although the monthly improvement is very good news, comparisons looking at the eight months of 2014 relative to last year, and the 12 months ending in August compared to the same period last year are all still negative, albeit not as bad as measured in July,” said Langenhoven.