National Union Metalworkers of SA and the Retail Motor Industry have signed a wage agreement and averted a strike involving 60 000 workers.
National Union Metalworkers of SA and the Retail Motor Industry (RMI) have signed a wage agreement and averted a strike involving 60 000 workers.
Numsa spokesman Dumisa Ntuli said earlier this month that it was common for petrol station attendants to work 12-hour shifts for as little as R25 a day.
According to the one-year wage agreement signed on Thursday, rural petrol attendants will receive a 14,8 per cent salary increase, and attendants in urban areas nine per cent.
Numsa told that component manufacturer workers would receive a 9,5 per cent pay rise for those earning below R12-an-hour and nine per cent for those earning above R12-an-hour. Car dealers would receive a nine per cent increase.
“We are celebrating victory, for the first time in the history of the industry employers have agreed to a high wage increase,” said Ntuli.
He added that the wage deal was “progressive, far above the narrow-minded inflation targeting by the Reserve Bank”.
Jakkie Olivier, the RMI spokesperson, said the negotiation team had stressed that industrial action was not a good idea. “It’s bad for business and it’s bad for labour. Even a failed strike attempt is a disruption, which erodes the capacity of employers to improve wages for its labour force. An effective, longer strike becomes disastrous,” he said.