Public comment: Consider this.

MEIBC
PUBLIC COMMENT

CONSIDER THIS

Dear Steel Industry employer
 
Yesterday, we informed members in the Steel Industry that the Minister of Employment and Labour has requested public comment in respect of the MEIBC’s request for the extension of the Consolidated Main Agreement of the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council.

In preparing your response to the Minister, consider that: 

• you will be required to pay an entry-level wage of R55,67 (plus an on-cost of approximately 40%, which amounts to R78 cost-to-company) for an unskilled worker. This wage, incidentally, is:
  • 130% higher than the entry-level wage for the Motor Industry, and
  • 40.6% higher than the Road Freight Industry;  
• if you cannot afford the above, you will have to apply for an exemption to an Exemption Committee, which will arbitrarily decide whether your business is ‘insolvent’ enough to qualify for an exemption – there are no criteria, and making provision for the growth of your business is not a consideration;
• a micro-size employer, situated in an outlying town in the Karoo, is expected to pay the same wage as a multinational situated in an economic hub; and

the cost of doing business for an SMME vs a big business is entirely disregarded.

IGNORING THE STATE PRESIDENT’S PLEA

The current situation in the Steel Industry must be viewed against the background of the State President’s recent request that entry-level wages must be lowered in order to address South Africa’s unemployment crisis. The recent request by the MEIBC to the Minister ignores this plea by the President, exacerbating the fact that …

… the Steel Industry is already, by far, the most expensive industry governed by bargaining council agreements.

Regards

For more information:
NEASA Media Department
media@neasa.co.za