NUMSA rejects wage offer in engineering sector

Numsa says they met with employers for a second day of wage talks on Thursday. Workers are demanding a 15% salary increase across the board.

"They are offering 5.3% across the board, for the first year of the agreement, based on the minimum rate, and not the actual rate that workers are earning," Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi says.

She says the union wants the employers go back to the drawing board and come up with an offer which shows a commitment to economic growth.

Hlubi says they are are convinced that employers are provocing a deadlock in order to justify a strike in the sector.

"Employers clearly don't want industrial peace within the sector. They want it to be unstable.”

Numsa will meet with employers again next week.

"We demand that when we return to the negotiation table next week, that they present us with a proposal which our members can actually engage with," Hlubi says.