Johannesburg - Industry experts have warned that load shedding, rate hikes and increasing inflation were having a devastating impact on the metals and engineering sector.
The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa’s (SEIFSA) Chief Executive Officer Lucio Trentini, said that these challenges had led to a sharp rise in business closures and job losses, with some sub-sectors being hit harder than others.
“The pressure on the economy is captured in the latest unemployment numbers showing the official joblessness rate having increased to 32.9%,” he said.
“Overall, labour participation is below 60% and GDP growth of just 0,2% with downside risks expected.
SEIFSA is set to host the metal industries collective bargaining summit at Emperors Palace on Wednesday and Thursday.
Trentini said that South Africa was facing an unprecedented crisis on the eve of the next round of collective bargaining in 2023.
“All parties would readily acknowledge that a strong and sustainable metals and engineering sector is in all our interests.”
“The Government has placed manufacturing and specifically this sector at the centre of the economic recovery plan.”
Trentini added that protecting jobs and the future of plants, in addition to boosting demand through unlocking infrastructure projects and funding for manufacturers, were vital steps needed for the industry to survive.
“The metals and engineering sector is strategic in its support of supply chains for vital sectors of our economy, such as the automotive, motor, construction, mining to name but a few,” he said.
“These and other interrelated sub-sectors are crucial to sustaining thousands of employers and their employees.”
Trentini said that the challenge for the negotiating partners, and to those from whom they obtain their mandates, was whether the, “parties can find it within themselves to rise above their own entrenched positions and put the interests of the metals and engineering sector – and, indeed, the interests of South Africa – first.
“If indeed it is acknowledged that the metals and engineering sector is vital to any economic recovery, it is incumbent on all the stakeholders to commit and pledge support for initiatives that may well extend beyond party positions and ideology.”
Trentini added that the business landscape had changed dramatically.
“The new normal is upon us and now more than ever before, this paradigm shift is necessary as tens of thousands of jobs and the future of many business owners, workers and communities depend on the decisions we will make in the months ahead.”
The Employer Associations under SEIFSA had no illusions about that the negotiations ahead being easy, Trentini said.
“We understand that they will be tough, with both employers and trade unions putting their demands on the table.
“It is our hope, however, that we will be able to bargain collectively in a mature and constructive manner, with the interests of the country and, in particular, of the metals and engineering sector in mind,” he said