A non-event is about to happen

a NON-EVENT
is about to happen
TOMORROW

Dear Steel Industry employer

Tomorrow the agent Seifsa will sign an agreement covering mainly wages (for the next three years) with Numsa and some of the other Industry trade unions.

To place this agreement in context: only 13 percent of employers in the Industry will be covered by it. This is and will remain the perpetual status of this agreement. There will, however, be attempts by Seifsa & Co to extend this agreement to the rest of the Industry.

Employees in the Industry deserve increases and employers are desirous to effect increases. The payment of increases in this instance is, however, delayed by the Seifsa & Co negotiations, which excluded all the dominant employer role players. As a result of Seifsa going down the rabbit hole, dragging with it all the trade unions which have adopted Seifsa as its whipping boy, an all-inclusive Industry agreement could not be concluded.

As a result of the uncertainty created by the Seifsa & Co agreement, it is just not appropriate to advise employers on the way forward at this juncture.

We will however do so in due course.