This came under the spotlight in Bloemfontein, where more than 400 members of  NUMSA in the mining, security, motor, plastics, energy, and bus sectors met for the NUMSA shop stewards council meeting.

The meeting looked into challenges facing the sector in order to come up with strategies to tackle them.

NUMSA shop stewards held engagements to seek a new mandate as another fresh round of wage hikes is about to begin.

NUMSA general secretary Irvin Jim says it’s important to seek a new mandate from different sectors of the union as they will soon embark on a new wage negotiations cycle.

Jim says workers affiliated with NUMSA will look for better pay despite the hard economic times. “We have reached that stage once more where the three-year agreement that we have signed with the employers in the auto industry, in the tire industry, and the plastic sector is coming to an end; therefore, we are negotiating a completely new agreement. We have gone to the basics of going back to workers to consult them about bargaining strategy for this round of negotiation.”

Jim says the union is also opposed to the government’s proposed VAT increase.

“And we can see everything is breaking asunder at the level of de-industrialisation and collapse of infrastructure, and it points to one thing. You can’t replace a state that intervenes in the economy. We obviously reject VAT that is added to the poor because you’re basically—people who are taking from nothing must now fund a program that is not helping them. Our people need jobs, our people need food, our people need land, and the ANC government must move very quickly to address those issues; otherwise, it will be voted permanently out of power.”

--Reuters--