“Employers have been stalling,” says employees
of Duferco Steel Processing (DSP) in Saldanha.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South
Africa (Numsa) has had an ongoing strike since Tuesday 5 October. This strike
comes after workers across the board have not been happy about their wages.
Employees of DSP joined the strike and says employers are not doing enough to
meet their demands and needs. Several DSP employees gathered outside the
building saying they would not return to work unless their needs are met.
Numsa demanded an 8% increase
across broad
The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation
of Southern Africa (Seifsa) hosted a media briefing on Friday 15 October to
discuss this matter and laid their 6% offer on the table. Employees were
however still unhappy about this offer.
With water, food and electricity prices on the
rise, employees are concerned about how they will get by and take care of their
families. During the briefing, Seifsa’s
CEO Lucio Trentini said a three-year deal has been placed on the table. “This
is our closing and final offer. We believe the offer is fair in the context of
the industry and the economy,” Trentini said. He also highlighted that the
industry has suffered a lot during this strike and that it needs to come to an
end.
Employees at DSP says profit margins were
enormous and that they even operated during lockdown. A worker who does
not want to be identified, said they (DSP) do not put their workers first and
they have not even received a thank you for all their hard work.
Employees are still demanding the 8% increase.
