NEGOTIATIONS on 10 April held between Seifsa representing 18 affiliated employer organisations, and trade unions including Numsa, Solidarity, Uasa, Mewusa, Saewa and Num – culminated in the calling for a Metals and Engineering Industries Reconstruction, Reindustrialization and Development Plan. This is required to allow the industry to re-set in an enabling environment underpinned by certainty, stability and industrial peace, according to Seifsa.
”With South Africa’s economic outlook unlike any experienced before, the time was ripe for parties to work together and more so, in the area of industrial policy, to construct a collective agreement that quickly and with minimal angst and anxiety settles the vexed issue of wages and brings all stakeholders together to jointly formulate a framework focused on re-building and repairing public infrastructure, alleviating bottlenecks constraining economic growth, while ensuring the long-term sustainability of the metals and engineering sector, which is critical to the reconstruction, reindustrialization and development of the economy,” Lucio Trentini, Seifsa’s CEO said.
“Seifsa applauds the trade unions for taking this bold and courageous stand in putting the interests of the metals and engineering sector – and, indeed, the interests of our country – first. We remain cautiously optimistic that consensus will be found,” Trentini said.
The negotiating partners may just be on the verge of achieving something never achieved or at the very least never in the last three decades – and that is concluding an agreement during the currency of the existing agreement set to expire on 30 June 2024.
With negotiations set to continue on 24 April 2024, Seifsa gave notice that it intends to reach out and work with all employer and trade union stakeholders. The Seifsa Council will also reconvene before the next round to receive a report back from the negotiators.
There are 18 employer associations federated with Seifsa, representing 1,300 affiliated member companies employing 170,000 employees in the metals and engineering industries.
