When the President made the call to business to ”get off the rooftops” and ”into the ring” to play its part in addressing crippling issues related to energy, logistics and crime to name a few – SEIFSA headed the call and continues to bring its capacity and resources to bear in addressing these and many other crises.
SEIFSA has consistently indicated its readiness to work with all stakeholders including the government to shift the needle in putting our country onto a sustainable and inclusive growth path. We will, on the basis of such indications, continue to work with all stakeholders and not shy away from holding stakeholders to account as we act with urgency to rebuild trust amongst all social partners.
Conspicuously absent in all these engagements, apart from the periodic Newsletter, has been the voice of NEASA. In its own eyes, NEASA has a special understanding of the dynamics of the metals and engineering industries. Its boring refrain is both simple and simplistic: “All our economic pain comes from SEIFSA.” There is little wonder, then, that when one objectively surveys more than twenty years of NEASA’s participation in the Metals and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council, the only unbroken thread that can be discerned of its involvement is its extraordinary and spectacular record of not having achieved a single thing for its constituency.
Times are tough in the country now, so many of the problems closing businesses and killing jobs could have been avoided. In these times, what can those of us mandated to act for business do? We are entitled and have every right to be angry and we should express it, but in ways that provide energy for action rather than draining us. Constructive criticism, engagement and action can make a difference, especially if we express our message in a way that models what we want to see.
It’s easy to criticize, to engage in penny-pinching and throw barbs, but doing so without advancing any reasonable and constructive alternative is intellectually bankrupt. NEASA’s biggest failure is that it knows roughly what it is against but has no credible positive programme to define and realize concrete policy objectives.
If only our problems were limited to hours of work and wages, how simple the road ahead would be in resolving these. At an aggregated level, the compensation of employees makes up 20% of the total input costs to the metals and engineering sector. Should our focus and collaborative creative thinking not rather be on the 80% of the equation? The trouble is that even on these issues, NEASA has no real idea what to do to remedy them. It attacks all and sundry but has no plan to address these issues.
The future of this industry will be created by those who have the courage to take action.
NEASA quite simply doesn’t have what it takes to confront the challenges facing the industry. NEASA is characterized by crass opportunism, hypocrisy and an authoritarian populism offering nothing to its followers.
NEASA may well have made gains in membership in recent years. This is good for our industry. Of course, the emergence of a credible alternative model addressing the plight of SMME’s would be even better. But since 2010, NEASA has centred its strategies on opposition to SEIFSA. But now that the Main Agreement has been gazetted and extended, NEASA suddenly looks very shaky. The focus on SEIFSA leaves NEASA struggling for relevance in a post-gazettal era. NEASA’s most recent Newsletter has the ring of desperation.
NEASA will have to develop a credible vision of the future that talks to the real challenges facing its membership on its own or in alliance with employer bodies across the spectrum and here’s the rub – in partnership with all stakeholders that NEASA over the years has been quick to point the finger of blame.
Deals or Agreements are not perfect, they are the product of negotiations and compromise. Reaching an agreement with the other side whether in the commercial or industrial relations sphere is tough, walking away is easy. Continuing the engagement process when all else seems lost requires commitment, dedication, and innovative and creative thinking.
SEIFSA representing 18 Employer Associations, with an 80-year track record of delivering industry solutions, and employing close to 150 000 employees, is ready to work in partnership with all industry stakeholders, who understand, that deals are struck when adversaries arrive at the stark reality that time would be better spent on focusing on what they have in common instead of the issues that divide them.
