STEEL INDUSTRY: SEIFSA RECRUITMENT DRIVE: BEWARE THE SNAKE IN THE GRASS

SEIFSA RECRUITMENT DRIVE

BEWARE THE SNAKE

IN THE GRASS

Dear Steel Industry employer

SEIFSA has been touting an information session aimed at demonstrating, to an unsuspecting audience, the benefits of being affiliated to SEIFSA. Click here to view.

No doubt these purported benefits would include obtaining influence in respect of the SEIFSA negotiations mandate, which, according to them implies “levelling the playing field and bringing about certainty and labour peace”.

However, here are some facts which will not be disclosed by SEIFSA; of course not:

• should you decide to join Seifsa, you would immediately become bound by a Seifsa collective agreement which is unaffordable and unsustainable for the industry; the ‘cost-to-company’ wage impact of an entry-level/lowest paid employee is in excess of R 11 000 per month, which comprises of R49,55 per hour, plus an additional on cost of approximately 40% in respect of benefits and statutory payments;
• history has shown that big business very much wields the sceptre when it comes to determining the Seifsa mandate, leaving SMME’s under dire stress;
• this agreement does not level the playing field, as the one size fits all approach cannot be beneficial to smaller employers and employers outside of the economic hubs, who simply cannot afford to pay these wages; and
• the agreement entered into by Seifsa and the trade unions has not been adopted as an agreement of the Council. The Council, therefore, has no jurisdiction to grant exemptions from this agreement. Despite SEIFSA advertising assistance with Leave Enhancement Pay exemptions, such exemptions cannot be granted by the MEIBC.

Whatever service is provided by Seifsa, it is simply overshadowed by the wage implication should you decide to join them. For this reason alone, an SMME must be mindful of not being trapped into committing to something that will cause the downfall of its business.

Regards

NEASA 24/7 NATIONAL HOTLINE: 086 016 3272
legalhotline@neasa.co.za
(please have your membership number at hand)

We are all in this together.
Privileged and challenged to be South African.