Efforts to end the strike in the steel and engineering sector continued yesterday as Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant tried to broker a deal between employers and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA.
Numsa, however, rejected reports that a deal had been reached between the parties.
"There is no deal or agreement that we are aware of.
"At the appropriate time Numsa will publicly announce when such a deal is on the table, after consulting members first.
"The strike continues indefinitely," said Numsa spokesman Castro Ngobese.
Oliphant wanted to know "what went wrong" with the negotiations between the parties, as the minister's impression after the talks she facilitated last week had been that a strong possibility of an early settlement existed.
But those hopes were shattered this week when the employers' representative body - the Steel Engineering Industries Federation of SA - announced that it had exhausted its mandate with the final offer that had been put on the table.
Numsa officially rejected Seifsa's offer of a 10% wage increase this year, 9.5% in the second year and 9% in the third.
The trade union is demanding a 10% one-year deal but is prepared to settle for three years with increases of 10% for each year.
The strike by 220 000 Numsa members began on July 1 and has forced car manufactures Ford, BMW, Nissan, General Motors and Toyota to cut production.
The strike has also forced delays in the building industry due to shortages of steel and other material.
Meanwhile, the National Union of Mineworkers has expressed frustration in its wage negotiations with state-owned power utility Eskom.
"Our members are angry and depressed about the situation at Eskom.
"Eskom is offering a 5.6% wage increase, which is below CPI.
"This, to us, is totally unacceptable.
"The situation at Eskom is a ticking timebomb," said NUM spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu.
Workers belonging to the NUM and Numsa cannot strike at Eskom as the power utility is classified as an essential service.
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