On Thursday, South Africa’s largest metalworkers union said that it has accepted a three-year wage deal in the steel and engineering sector, thus ending an indefinite strike.
The union had demanded an 8 percent rise in wage across-the-board from employers in the first year, and inflation plus 2% percent wage rise for the second and third years.
Before the talks broke down, the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) proposed only a 4.4 percent in 2021, inflation plus 0.5 percent in 2022, and inflation plus 1 percent in the third year.
NUMSA said in a statement on Thursday that the agreement with SEIFSA provided for a 6 percent yearly increase on planned rates of pay for the lowest pay grades for the next three years, while higher-paid personnel would receive annual increases of between 5 percent and 5.5 percent.
There were fears that if the strike went on much longer, it would have a significant impact on South Africa’s export-oriented auto sector, which is striving to recover from a severe sales decrease caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
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