Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) president Elias Monage reports that it is aiming to speedily conclude yet another multiyear wage agreement with representative labour unions in the sector during upcoming collective bargaining in 2027.

Monage, who served as Seifsa president during the 2024 wage negotiations, was recently re-elected to the role, performed since 2025 by Mervyn Naidoo, who will remain as Seifsa’s first VP.

Addressing members in Ekurhuleni on Thursday, Monage indicated that Seifsa’s goal was to conclude an unprecedented five-year settlement with representative unions, having concluded a three-year deal in 2024.

That 2024-2027 agreement was conducted through the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council and was also notable for the speed at which it was finalised.

The settlement was reached following only three meetings and in the absence of any industrial action.

It was signed by several unions, including the large National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, as well as Seifsa-affiliated employer associations that collectively employ about 150 000 people. However, some unions and employer associations in the industry refused to sign the agreement, citing various concerns.

Monage said he and the new Seifsa board had agreed that a five-year settlement should be pursued in a bid to create the stability needed to support the country’s reindustrialisation.

LACK OF SUPPORT

However, he also used his address to criticise what he saw as a lack of coordination from government in supporting the stated policy goal of reindustrialising South Africa.

Monage was especially critical of Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau, who he said had not engaged adequately with the metals and engineering industry on the approach that should be adopted to support the country’s reindustrialisation.

“We are an authoritative voice of industry, and we want to talk about reindustrialisation,” he said, arguing that this required more interactions with the line Ministry than was currently the case.

Seifsa, Monage noted, had managed to meet more regularly with President Cyril Ramaphosa in the recent past than with Tau, leading him to pose the following provocative question: “Do we really have a Minister of Trade and Industry in this country?”

Seifsa’s outgoing president, Naidoo, struck a more diplomatic tone, describing industrialisation as a deliberate policy choice that had to be supported by policy actions.

The two central priorities for industrialisation, he added, were to grow demand, including by leveraging procurement to support domestic industry, and reducing production costs caused by rising electricity tariffs, inefficient logistics, unstable municipal services, and regulatory burdens.

Naidoo said there was currently a gap between government’s stated commitment to industrialise and the practical experience of manufacturing companies, especially in the area of levering industrialisation through procurement.