Three year agreement for motor workers
A new three-year agreement has just been signed. Numsa News spoke to the Union’s motor sector co-ordinator, Sam Tsiane, to catch up on the plans for the sector.
This new agreement is a three-year agreement. What will happen in the next three years?
We will hold a motor National Shop Stewards Council on October 19-20 2004 to make sure that our issues are achieved. The Central Committee in December 2004 and February 2005 will endorse these issues as our programme for the next three years.
What issues will you be concerned with over the next three years?
We will be very busy trying to secure better wages for forecourt attendants. We will also pressurise employers in sector 6 (car dealers) to grant increases on actual rates of pay and an agency shop.
We must recruit new members, particularly in the former self-governing and TBVC states if we are to win extension of the agreement to these areas. Our goal is to have 100 000 motor members by 2007.
HIV/Aids is a priority that we must address and we must put a programme in place to do this.
On medical aid we will go ahead and merge Automed (the medical aid for Numsa’s motor members) with Mimed, the medical aid for motor workers in other trade unions. We will make sure that our lower paid members do not subsidise higher paid employees by keeping the three different plans – lower, higher and superior. By 2006, medical aid should be compulsory for all workers in the industry.
Security at filling stations is still a priority and we will be putting our efforts into improving this.
Other important issues at the workplace that we will concentrate on are employment equity, training and grading
Even with the new increase, forecourt attendants’ wages are still way too low? How does the union plan to improve them?
The parties will establish a tripartite structure which will consist of the Department of Minerals and Energy, employers and Numsa.
The employers have agreed to work towards paying according to poverty measures that are currently calculated by different universities. These measures work out how much a family should earn to live a better life. In 2002, the figure was R2000 per month.
Numsa demanded an agency shop in the sector in this year’s round of negotiations. What has happened to this demand and why is it important to Numsa?
The employers have agreed that within 12 months a multiparty forum should be established to talk about improvement of representation in the council. However, we think that the agency shop will solve our problems in the sector.
An agency shop makes those that are not union members pay agency shop fees to the Bargaining Council. This money is then paid across to all the unions that are represented at the Bargaining Council. We can then use this money to improve our organising and service of motor members.
There was also a demand to increase the death benefit in the pension and provident funds from two years annual salary to three years. What happened to this demand?
The demand was agreed upon but the actuary (financial expert) of the Funds has advised us that if we want to increase benefits, then contributions must increase.
From April 1, 2005 , contributions will increase as follows:
Old Contribution
New contribution
Employers
7 %
8 %
Workers
7 %
7 ½ %
The pension fund will also be phased out and members in it will be transferred to the provident fund. Only those who will be retiring in 10 years can stay in the pension fund. But only if they have belonged to the Fund for more than 15 years.
From August 1 2004 , no workers will be allowed to join a pension fund.
What Funds will be left?
We will have only one pension fund. There will be a provident fund for grades one to six and another one for grade 7 and 8 and Division B workers (clerical workers.)