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8 September, 2025The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), an IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, has announced the end of a two-week indefinite strike at Macsteel, a leading steel supplier.
The strike, which began on 22 August, was triggered by contentious retrenchments that NUMSA condemned as procedurally unfair and exploitative. Workers are set to resume duties on 8 September following a negotiated settlement that addresses key union demands.
The agreement marks a victory for NUMSA, with Macsteel conceding to reinstate all retrenched workers into positions within the company, preserving their wages, benefits and conditions. Further, even workers placed in lower-grade roles will retain their original salary scales, a critical safeguard for their livelihoods. Five workers who opted for severance packages over reinstatement will meet with NUMSA to confirm their decisions, ensuring informed choices.
The strike, described as a last resort by NUMSA, followed Macsteel’s refusal to consider union-proposed alternatives during Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act consultations which deals with retrenchments for operational requirements that include economic, technological or structural changes.
The dispute centred on Macsteel’s implementation of voluntary severance packages (VSPs) under Section 189, which NUMSA condemned as a sham. The union accused the company of coercing 253 workers into accepting VSPs valued at a mere R40 000 (US$1828), calculated at one week’s pay per year of service which is far below the industry norm of three to four weeks’ gross remuneration per year.
NUMSA described the process as unilateral, alleging that Macsteel issued termination letters and pressured workers without consulting the union, violating fair retrenchment protocols.
NUMSA’s demands included the reinstatement of the retrenched workers, improved severance packages and transparent, union-negotiated retrenchment criteria. The union argued that Macsteel’s actions reflected a broader pattern of employers exploiting workers during economic downturns, maximising profits in boom times only to discard workers with inadequate compensation during retrenchments. NUMSA called for government intervention through the Department of Employment and Labour to establish minimum standards for severance packages.
NUMSA general secretary, Irvin Jim, said:
“It should not be tolerated that employers can pay workers empty voluntary severance packages in the name of voluntarism. This is abuse. Greedy bosses must be stopped particularly when they have exploited workers for years.”
“Protection of workers livelihoods even during retrenchments is one of the core duties of a trade union and we commend NUMSA for going on strike to stop workers exploitation at Macsteel,”
said Paule-France Ndessomin, IndustriALL Sub-Saharan Africa regional secretary.
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