PRESS RELEASE

 

20 OCTOBER 2021

 

STEEL INDUSTRY STRIKE

NEASA THE CONVENIENT SCAPEGOAT

 

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The strike in the Steel Sector continues unabated, and a number of rumors have been doing the rounds that NEASA (National Employers’ Association of South Africa) is to blame, as it does not want to join SEIFSA (Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa) in their potential agreement with NUMSA (National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa).

 

“Even though it is true that NEASA does not share the same centralised collective bargaining approach as SEIFSA, the contention that NEASA is the stumbling block preventing the resolution of the dispute and consequent industrial action, is simply misconstruing the facts”, says Gerhard Papenfus, Chief Executive of NEASA.

 

This is the case, as NUMSA has not concluded an agreement with any employers’ body, which includes SEIFSA. Papenfus therefore contends that, “even if NEASA could consider co-signing an agreement with SEIFSA, which it would not, it could not do so, since there is no agreement to consider”.

 

According to Papenfus, NEASA fundamentally differs from SEIFSA on the following collective bargaining principles:

 

• NEASA firmly believes that it is for each business to determine the wage levels suiting their own specific circumstances;
• that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach is never appropriate;
• that any arrangement which goes beyond the abovementioned principles, is unsustainable and detrimental to both business sustainability and continued employment;
• that market powers should dictate the conditions of employment between employers and employees; and
• that the extension of collective agreements to non-parties, constitutes state-sanctioned uncompetitive behaviour, which is always to the detriment of downstream competitors.

 

“These principles are non-negotiable; it goes to the heart of NEASA’s approach that business should be allowed to operate in a sustainable manner. For NUMSA to hold the labour market hostage, in order to persuade NEASA to change its stance on these issues, is an exercise in folly”, he emphasized.

 

NEASA’s wage recommendation to its constituency on 19 October 2021, namely a 5% increase calculated on an employee’s current wage, if an employer can afford it, is based on these principles. However, any company that can afford to pay more, is free to do so.

 

NEASA has successfully fought the extension of unaffordable, inappropriate agreements since 2011. “It is simply irrational to expect NEASA members and other employers to agree to be bound to a potential SEIFSA-NUMSA agreement, which will simply cause the demise of their businesses”, Papenfus said.

 

Papenfus maintains that the real issues, causing the current impasse between SEIFSA and NUMSA, are the percentage increase offered by SEIFSA, and the calculation of the wage increases based on ‘minimums’ versus the ‘actual’ rate of pay of an employee, which are purely SEIFSA issues. NEASA has no hand in this.

 

The extension of a potential agreement to non-parties remains a contentious and important issue for NUMSA. For the extension to be made possible, the assistance of other associations will be required. “This will not be achieved, no matter how hard they try”, Papenfus said.

 

It also seems that NUMSA is faced with the dilemma that they have to justify to its members, which it has kept out on strike for three weeks without income, as to why it has not been able to secure a deal and NEASA seems to be a convenient scapegoat for this purpose.

 

“Whatever the reason may be for portraying NEASA as the villain, it is simply a convenient tactic to confuse and hide the true issues at hand”, Papenfus concluded.

 

MEDIA CONTACT

JEANNE BOSHOFF

NEASA MEDIA LIAISON

083 455 7298

media@neasa.co.za