Employers in the metals and engineering sector were “deeply concerned” about recent Labour Court judgments, which were said to threaten centralised collective bargaining, Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) CEO Kaizer Nyatsumba said on Wednesday.

Speaking on behalf of employers involved in the current negotiations with labour representatives on wages and conditions of employment in the sector, Nyatsumba said that historically, centralised collective bargaining offered employers the comfort that, once negotiations were concluded, they would not be confronted at company level with similar demands that would have the effect of increasing the cost of employment.

However, recent judgments by the Labour Court, stating that unions could raise at company level and strike over matters not specifically mentioned in Section 37 of the Main Agreement concluded within the Metal and Engineering Industries Council (MEIBC), even if they had the effect of increasing the cost of employment, opened the door to two-tier bargaining which left employers vulnerable and at the mercy of trade unions, Nyatsumba said.

“In the process, these rulings pose a threat to jobs – at a time when our country desperately wants more jobs to be created, and also places the whole time-intensive process of collective bargaining, which has served the industry well over the years, into jeopardy and goes against government’s stated preference for collective bargaining,” he said.

Seifsa explained that, according to Section 37, the MEIBC was the “sole forum for negotiating [on] matters contained in the Main Agreement”, and that Labour Court Judge Andre van Niekerk ruled that matters not contained in the agreement could, therefore, be taken up at company level.

The federation also pointed out that the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa wanted Section 37 repealed altogether, while employers want it strengthened to indicate that all matters which increase the cost of employment should be negotiated within the MEIBC.

Nyatsumba said while employers understood the context of the Van Niekerk judgment, they believed that it was imperative for the current gap to be closed, through an appropriate amendment to Section 37 of a new Main Agreement, resulting from the current negotiations, to protect employers from unfair, two-tier negotiations.

“We hope for a mutually acceptable resolution to this untenable situation that threatens the collective bargaining process. Seifsa and all employer representatives in the current negotiations have made it clear that they will not sign any agreement flowing from the current negotiations, unless the gap that has led to the Van Niekerk judgments has been closed effectively,” he stated.

Nyatsumba added that employers in the negotiations had also called on labour – so far, without success – to commit to lawful conduct, through the signing of a Peace Accord, in the event of a strike if negotiations should reach a deadlock.