By Staff Reporter
The National Union of Metalworkers of SA will go on strike at steel provider Macsteel on Friday following the company issuing letters of retrenchment.
Union general secretary Irvin Jim said this was despite consultations not being exhausted and because the offer included paying workers one week of wages for every year of service.
He described this as “an insult and utterly shocking”.
“This strike is necessitated by the extreme arrogance of Macsteel’s management, led by Paul Flemming, who have demonstrated that they do not care about considering all the alternatives the union had advanced in the Section 189A facilitation.
“The truth that confronted 300 workers of Macsteel was that Macsteel’s hostile management sabotaged the consultation process,” Jim said in a statement.
He said it was agreed that the last consultative meeting would take place on 27 August.
Macsteel wrote to Numsa stating that it was canceling the Section 189A process.
Jim has called on Macsteel workers to support the mass action, saying that the unity of workers was imperative.
“Whether you were intimidated into taking the lousy R40,000 (voluntary severance package), whether you belong to Numsa or not, or whether you are one of those who was forcefully retrenched. Everyone must stand together as everyone stands to benefit out of the outcome of the strike Numsa has been forced to embark upon,” he said.
Macsteel is in the process of restructuring, which is impacting its operations.
The company has said the global steel and manufacturing sectors have undergone significant changes over the past few years, and neither South Africa nor it have been immune to these challenges.
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