By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) on Thursday announced it’s accepted a 6% wage increase for three years from the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa), bringing an end to the three-week strike in the metal and engineering sector.
The union held a media briefing following a special executive meeting on Wednesday night.
This after Numsa, the country’s largest union with about 432,000 members, which has been on strike in the sector since October 5 for an 8% wage increase, said this week it was prepared to settle for the 6%.
Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said they had decided to accept the 6% wage increase based on the minimum rate of pay.
Jim said workers in the sector were justified in their call for better pay and had earned this increase.
Workers are expected to return to work between Thursday and Monday.
The strike had entered its third week. According to Seifsa, in its first week alone, the strike cost R100 million in lost wages. The steel federation has also warned that a protracted strike could been worse than the 2014 strike which cost the economy R6 billion.
The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa), the sector’s largest employer body that represents 18 organisations, has sweetened its 2021 salary increase offer for Numsa members — increasing it to 6% from 4.4%.