Labour Court grants interim order in favour of Neasa

The Labour Court, in Johannesburg, on Tuesday granted a further interim order preventing the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC) from requesting Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant to extend the wage settlement agreed to by the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) and trade unions, in July, to nonparties. The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and five other unions had accepted Seifsa’s offer of a 10% wage increase for the lowest grades for three years; however, Neasa had not signed the agreement, arguing that the increase was at an “unsustainable level” and would cause the metals and engineering industry to decline even further.