Trade union Solidarity on Monday accepted the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa’s (Seifsa’s) revised wage offer.

The three-year wage agreement, settled within the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC), comprised increases for Solidarity members of 8% to 10% during the first year, followed by hikes of 7.5% to 10% next year and 7% to 10% by the third year.

The trade union also ceded to maintaining Section 37 of the MEIBC collective agreement – as long as existing company-level agreements remained in place, Solidarity head of industry Marius Croucamp said in a statement.

This emerged shortly after trade union Uasa accepted ‘in principle’ the proposal made by Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant last week, which Seifsa reluctantly conceded to, with unions given until Friday to decide.

The 200 000-member National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa had not yet accepted the offer and continued its strike in the metal and engineering sector.