Seifsa has “reluctantly” accepted the labour department’s wage proposal to end a strike in the metal sector, the employer body said on Tuesday.

“Seifsa has reluctantly accepted Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant’s proposal to offer wage increases of 10 percent to low-level employees over the next three years,” it said in a statement.

“A slim majority of employer associations… [agreed] on condition that the offer is accepted by the unions not later than Friday.”

The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of SA (Seifsa) said its acceptance was conditional.

The new proposal included a three-year agreement with increases of between eight and 10 percent, depending on whether the workers were higher or lower earners.

The labour department and the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) facilitated talks between Seifsa and unions, after negotiations between the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) and the employer body deadlocked.

Over 200,000 Numsa members in the metal and engineering sector downed tools on July 1, demanding a salary increase of 12 percent, dropped from their pre-strike demand of 15 percent. They also demanded a R1000 housing allowance, and a total ban on labour brokers.

The union announced on July 13 that it had lowered its wage demand to 10 percent.

Numsa on Tuesday said it was holding a special national executive committee meeting in Johannesburg where it would consider the latest wage offer proposed by the labour department.

“[We] will solicit a fresh mandate from members,” the union said in a statement. SAPA