Photo by: Duane Daws
South Africa’s component makers and retail motor industry have reached a new three-year wage agreement with the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and the Motor Industry Staff Association.
The settlement will see wage increases at component manufacturers of 8.5% in year one,8% in year two and 7.5% in year three of the agreement.
The agreement expires on August 31, 2019.
Increases in the remainder of the retail sector will be set at 7% a year. However, forecourt attendants at service stations will receive a 10% increase in year one, 8% in year two and 8% in year three.
The wage agreement follows a protracted negotiation process in which Numsa at first wanted a one-year wage agreement rather than a three-year agreement, while it also canvassed for the establishment of a mega bargaining council for the motor industry.
The Retail Motor Industry Organisation did not agree with these terms.
South Africa’s vehicle manufacturers in September signed a new three-year wage deal with Numsa. The new deal sees workers receive a 10% raise in 2016 and an 8% increase in each of the following two years.
The previous rounds of wage negotiations in the manufacturing and motor retail sectors in 2013 resulted in two protracted strikes.