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A MUST READ (Part 8): Why the so-called "consolidated main agreement" should not be extended to non-parties - 90% of employers in the Steel Industry
Dear Steel Industry employer
What follows is another letter by a Steel Industry employer to the Minister of Employment and Labour.
Regards
Letter by employer:
Good Day
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on what I view as a very unfair agreement.
Firstly the agreement was reached by a very small minority of the industry and is not representative of the industry.
Less than 10 % of the industry is in agreement with this agreement and are SEIFSA members.
Many of the SEIFSA members can not comply and ask for exemption of this agreement.
I understand that should the agreement be in-forced the following will be applied to non-members also.
- you will be required to pay an entry-level wage of R55,67 (plus an on-cost of approximately 40%, which amounts to R78 cost-to-company) for an unskilled worker. This wage, incidentally, is:
- 130% higher than the entry-level wage for the Motor Industry, and
- 40.6% higher than the Road Freight Industry;
- if you cannot afford the above, you will have to apply for an exemption to an Exemption Committee, which will arbitrarily decide whether your business is ‘insolvent’ enough to qualify for an exemption – there are no criteria, and making provision for the growth of your business is not a consideration;
- a micro-size employer, situated in an outlying town in the Karoo, is expected to pay the same wage as a multinational situated in an economic hub; and
the cost of doing business for an SMME vs a big business is entirely disregarded.
I have been in the foundry industry from 1988 and have had my own foundry from 2008.
When I founded my foundry we were close to 300 foundries in south Africa, we are now just over 100 foundries.
Two-thirds of the foundries have ceased to exist, this can be attributed to the fact that we can not compete with imports and industry continues to shed jobs.
Cost of electricity is too high, cost of labour is too high.
My company can not afford the proposed main agreement and I am not a signatory to the agreement and can not see why 10% (signatories to the agreement) of the industry must regulate 90% who are non-signatories of the agreement.
Please scrap this main agreement and let them enforce it upon the members and signatories of the agreement only and not enforce it upon non-members and non-signatories.
For more information:
NEASA Media Department
media@neasa.co.za