Comments by CEO Kaizer Nyatsumba
at the ceremony to sign the 2017-2020
Metals and Engineering
Sector Settlement Agreement
Date: 23 August 2017
L
adies and Gentlemen, welcome to this important ceremony at which we will sign
the 2017-2020 metals and engineering sector Settlement Agreement. In particular,
we welcome members of the media who are here to record this momentous event.
The signing of this important Agreement is a culmination of four months of intensive talks,
first within the Metals and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC) wherein
we worked closely with all the other employer parties, and subsequently in our direct
engagements with our respective labour partners. The process was long and hard, and
there were considerable challenges along the way, but we are hugely relieved that finally
we and our labour partners were able to reach an historic agreement on realistic wage
adjustments for the next three years.
It was not easy. Neither we nor the unions are entirely happy with the agreement reached,
but we can live with it. We believe that it is the best possible agreement that we could
reach under the circumstances, and we believe that it is fair to both parties.
Kaizer Nyatsumba
As you know, we came into these negotiations with vastly different starting positions,
as is usually the case during such negotiations. However, to the credit of the respective
parties, we moved gradually over time to the realistic figures at which we eventually
settled. We did so very mindful of the
terrible state of our economy and,
more importantly, of the worse state
of the metals and engineering sector
which has been bleeding jobs over
the past few years.
Chief Executive Officer
As partners, we are painfully aware of
the enormous damage wreaked on
our sector by cheap, often subsidised
imports from China and other Asian
countries. We are acutely aware of
the tens of thousands of jobs that
have been lost – and continue to be
lost – in the sector since the run-up
to South Africa’s 2010 FIFA World
Cup when the country was a massive
From left to right: Irvin Jim: Cosatu; Lucio trentini: SEIFSA and Kaizer Nyatsumba: SEIFSA
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