Photo by: Reuters
The National Employers’ Association of South Africa (Neasa) will lodge an urgent application in the Labour Court in Johannesburg to stop the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC) from requesting Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant to extend the wage settlement agreed to between the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) and trade unions, in July, to nonparties.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and five other unions had accepted Seifsa’s offer of a 10% wage increase for the lowest grades for three years; however, Neasa had not signed the agreement, arguing that the increase was at an “unsustainable level” and would cause the metals and engineering industry to decline even further.
Neasa had, subsequently, initiated a still-ongoing lockout of workers who had participated in the strike.
Neasa’s decision to approach the Labour Court followed on a meeting with the MEIBC on Wednesday, where it says a decision was taken to request that the Minister extend the agreement to the entire industry.
“The whole meeting was riddled with unconstitutional and unlawful processes. It was obvious that parties conspired against Neasa to steamroller through these resolutions,” Neasa CEO Gerhard Papenfus said in a statement on Thursday.