Numsa, steel industry set for compromise

the standoff between the national union of metalworkers of sa (numsa) and employers in the steel and engineering industry over wage increases is as good as over after the two parties settled on a compromise on friday.

numsa will decide tomorrow whether to accept an increased wage offer from employers, which could see lower-paid employees earning 7,5% more or 6,5% more for higher paid workers.

for four months, numsa and the steel and engineering federation (seifsa) have failed to agree on the wage increases in the industry.

numsa originally demanded a 12% wage increase while seifsa offered an increase of 7,1% for the lowest grades and 6,1% for the highest grades.

about 28000 numsa members went on a one-day strike on thursday to put pressure on seifsa.

workers marched in johannesburg and cape town, and many firms had to shut down that day or scale back operations, including delaying export orders, amounting to millions of rand in lost production, seifsa said last week.

however, hopes of a possible compromise increased when, in its memorandum to seifsa last week numsa said it had revised its initial 12% wage increase demand to 7,5%.

numsa deputy general secretary bheki magagula challenged the federation to increase its offer.

on friday the parties announced that they had agreed on a 7,5% wage increase for the lowest grade workers and 6,5% for the highest grades such as artisans.

however, the agreement is not sealed yet. numsa still has to convince its membership to accept wage increases of 7,5% and 6,5%, instead of the initially demanded 12%.

numsa spokesman dumisa ntuli said the union was consulting its members.

"there is a need for this to be debated. although we both agree on the wage increase, nothing has been signed yet," ntuli said.

seifsa executive director brian angus said the parties would meet tomorrow to consider numsa's response to seifsa's latest offer.