 For more videos on people's struggles, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Hello, you're watching People's Dispatch. Today, we are joined by Bhagamele Hrubi Majola, who is the national spokesperson of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa. And we are going to be talking about a major strike that's coming up on October 5th, where employees and workers in the engineering sector will be protesting. Now, there have been negotiations going on for a very long time on this issue. The workers, of course, you know, workers under NUMSA are engaging the employers, engaging the authorities, but there seems to have been no resolution. And we're going to be talking about why. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Thank you. And good afternoon to your viewers. Right. Could you first maybe start by talking about the larger picture right now in terms of what were the basic and core demands of the workers and what was the response of the employers and employers' organizations? Well, the key demands of employees was for an 8% across the board increase for the first year, as well as for an increase of CPI plus 2% for the second and third year. And we felt that this would be sufficient to settle this round of negotiations. Employers, on the other hand, offered 4.4% for the first year, and they also offered CPI plus 0.5% for the second year and CPI plus 1% for the third year. Now, what has brought us to the point where we have deadlocked and we were on the verge of a strike is the fact that when you look at the numbers, when you look at what workers are demanding, when you look at what employers are putting on the table, we have not found each other anywhere in the middle. We feel when we look at this process of negotiations that we have gone further than employers in compromising on the demands we have made. So even for us to be at the point where we're demanding 8%, we had already compromised on an initial demand removed from 15% to 8% from a one-year agreement to a third-year agreement. They opened with 4.4% and the CPI plus 0.2 and CPI plus 1, and that's where they've stayed. They've not shifted, they've not tweaked it, and that is not negotiation in the sense of trying to find a middleware where we can find each other. So this is why we unfortunately are at the point where we're on the verge of a strike. Absolutely. So could you maybe also take us through the nature of the sector itself as in what are the kind of numbers that we're seeing in terms of employee, interval workers, what is the kind of work they do and why is this right now especially a very essential negotiation for them? This is a sector that employs 432,000 workers under the metals engineering and industries bargaining council. It's a sector in the steel and engineering sector. So it's basically companies that are manufacturing steel products or any kind of related steel product. This strike will be significant in the sense that it will have a material impact on the economy if it goes off and if all workers decide to down tools. This is a protected strike. So even though it's a strike led by NUMSA, potentially any of those 432,000 workers could decide to join the strike because it's a protected strike. How it will impact is the fact that the steel sector, MEIBC provides products to the mining sector, to the construction sector, products for factories and manufacturing, automobile and motor related could also be affected. So it's a pretty big deal if the majority of the workers in the sector decide to down tools. And this is why for us and we keep saying to employers, it's not too late. We can negotiate, let's find an alternative, but if you're not going to talk to us, then unfortunately we have to implement the mandate of members. Absolutely. And could you also maybe take us through what kind of impact, especially the past year has had on employees in these employees sectors because I believe last year there was no wage hike as well. And this is one of the reasons for the negotiation. So how has this sector been affected by the pandemic and surrounding circumstances? Indeed. It's been a very problematic, very stressful. Pardon me. Our members have really gone through a lot. Their conditions have worsened considerably since the advent of COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns. And so last year, when we were supposed to negotiate, we were actually supposed to negotiate an agreement last year. And the talks were scheduled to take place already during the hard lockdown. And we were convinced through our discussions with employers that the, because at that stage we didn't know about COVID and its potential impact, that we would agree to a standstill agreement. And that standstill agreement basically meant that we would not change conditions at all. We would keep things as they are, but there would be no increase. And workers took that decision in interests of the engineering sector. They did it in the interest of the economy. And this is why this deadlock is problematic because our members are angry. Their feel as if employers are not taking into account that sacrifice that workers made last year and simply by offering 4%, to us, that's, you may as well say 0% because last year they got zero. So, and on top of that, COVID has had a huge impact. It's had an impact in terms of massive job losses that we've seen in South Africa in the last couple of months. Our unemployment rate has actually increased even further. And at the same time, many workers were denied incomes because of lockdown and the COVID relief, which was supposed to be paid to them by the state was not paid. So they endured a very difficult time of COVID with the, you know, the deaths and the trauma that come with that on top of that losses that they've incurred through salaries because of lockdown. And there seems to be no sympathy from employers for the suffering that workers have endured. And this is why we are headed for a strike. Right. Also, could you maybe take us through what has been the larger approach of the government and governmental policies in this regard as well? Has there been any, you know, encouragement or seriousness on the part of the government to actually address these issues? On our end, we have not really seen that because we've always felt that particularly on the issue of COVID and the COVID response that our government really could have gone further to cushion workers and their families during that time. We've had to struggle, literally struggle, with the Department of Employment and Labor on the payment of TERS issues where workers have, you know, gone to pick it, you know. So we've put been the ones putting pressure on them to do right. But honestly, so much more could have been done. This government could have negotiated for payment holidays from the banks, for example. We thought those are things that should have been done. They could have ensured that at the very least, the administration and the payout of the relief funds was done better. So all of those things we feel contributed heavily to the suffering of workers. And so we feel it is our responsibility as a trade union to do everything possible to secure a meaningful wage increase for workers in this sector. Thank you so much for talking to us. Thank you for having me and have a good day. That's all we have time for today. Keep watching People's Dispatch.