Solidarity accepts three year wage deal

Solidarity has accepted a three-year wage agreement proposed by employers in the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC).

The agreement detailed wage increases of between eight and 10 percent, the union's deputy general secretary Dirk Hermann said in a statement.

"The employees on the lowest job levels will receive an increase closer to 10 percent, while the employees on higher job levels will receive an increase closer to eight percent."

In 2012 and 2013, employees would receive an increase of between seven and eight percent. However, if the consumer price index (CPI) exceeded eight percent, workers would receive CPI plus two percent.

The increases would be back-dated to July 1.

The agreement provided for training and retention of scarce skills, as many South African artisans were being "lured away by opportunities in the international market".

In addition to wage increases, labour brokers would be regulated according to a code of practice proposed by Solidarity. This would protect both temporary and permanent workers in the metal and engineering sector.

About 170,000 workers from the National Union of Metalworkers of SA, the Metal and Electrical Workers' Union, and the SA Equity Workers' Association started a countrywide strike on July 4.

They demanded a wage increase of between 10 and 13 percent, and a ban on labour brokers.

Solidarity had threatened to join the engineering strike, but this was averted when employers in the MEIBC reviewed their wage offer to the union last week.

On Monday, Solidarity joined the chemical and petroleum sector strike, to instil "a sense of urgency" in talks to resolve it, Hermann said.