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Greetings – and welcome to the first issue of the 2017 Wage Negotiations Update.

This Update will be distributed regularly throughout the 2017 negotiations on wages and conditions of employment and posted on our website (www.seifsa.co.za) in order to ensure that all companies that are members of Associations affiliated to SEIFSA are kept fully informed of developments during the negotiations. Although companies are members of our affiliated Associations and indirect members of the Federation, for ease of reference we will refer to such companies as SEIFSA member companies in this newsletter.

The 2017 wage negotiations are almost upon us. The main union in our sector, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), will be holding its Collective Bargaining Mandating Conference on 24-25 April 2017. We understand that the other unions have also been involved in similar processes. We expect to receive labour’s list of demands for the negotiations soon thereafter.

The SEIFSA Office operates strictly in accordance with mandates derived from the SEIFSA Council. The latter is an assembly of the 25 Associations that are members of SEIFSA, which brings the member Associations together to debate matters among themselves and develop a mandate for the Federation. Our responsibility is then to implement the mandate/s coming from our constituency, through the SEIFSA Council.

In preparation for the forthcoming negotiations, we have scheduled a Special SEIFSA Council Meeting for this afternoon (18 April 2017). At that meeting, member Associations will begin to formulate our mandate for the 2017 Wage Negotiations.

How can you get involved?
As member companies, your active involvement in preparations for the negotiations and throughout the process is paramount. We implore you to make your voices heard within your respective Associations. That way you will ensure that, when your Associations come to SEIFSA Council Meetings for mandating discussions, they do so informed by your companies’ views, among others.

Should you wish to establish which Association your company belongs to or when its meetings are scheduled, please contact either Associations Manager Theresa Crowley (theresa@seifsa.co.za) or Operations Director Lucio Trentini (lucio@seifsa.co.za).

We look forward to your active involvement and support throughout the 2017 wage negotiations process. We hope that we will be able to conclude matters without any industrial action.

Kaizer Nyatsumba
Chief Executive Officer
Direct | Tel: 011 298 9403 | Fax: 011 298 9503 | Cell: 072 177 8197 |
E-mail: kaizer@seifsa.co.za

Head Office | Tel: 011 298 9400 or 0861 SEIFSA | Fax: 011 298 9500