BARGAINING COUNCIL Base increases on actual pay rates, Solidarity tells steel employers

• Published date: 26 April 2024
• Publication title: Business Day (Johannesburg, South Africa)

Trade union Solidarity has lashed out at steel sector bosses’ proposal to base wage increases on minimum rates of pay and not on actual wages, saying this would disadvantage skilled and experienced artisans

Unions including Solidarity and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) met industry bosses for a second round of wage talks at the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council in Boksburg, near Joburg, on Wednesday.

They have called on employer bodies such as the Consolidated Employers Organisation, National Employers Association of SA, SA Engineers and Founders Association, employer organisation SAUEO, and the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) to table a meaningful wage offer based on the actual rates of pay — not on the minimum rate of pay — in the steel and engineering sector, where the lowest-paid employee earns R59.10 per hour.

"The deceptive wage offer presented by the various employer organisations ranges between 6% for the lowest level (grade H) employees and 5% for skilled (grade A) employees, but the offer is tied to the minimum rates of pay per job category, and not based on the actual wages earned by employees, a stance that Solidarity has rejected outright," said Solidarity general secretary Gideon du Plessis.

Solidarity is demanding a 6% wage increase each year for three years. "But we want the increases to be based on the actual rate of pay," stressed Du Plessis.

Numsa, SA’s largest trade union, is demanding increases of 7% in the first year and 6% for the second and third years.

Stats SA reported recently that consumer inflation eased for the first time in 2024 to 5.3% in March, from 5.6% in February. The SA Reserve Bank and some economists expect inflation to average about 5% for the year, down from 6% in 2023.

Du Plessis said to base increases on minimum rates of pay would result in skilled and experienced employees receiving an...