Stainless Steel Me

South Africa’s Solidarity union said on Tuesday it had declared a dispute with unlisted steelmaker Columbus Stainless Steel over a wage deal agreed last year, which it said the company was seeking to change.

Solidarity said it signed a five-year wage agreement with Columbus Stainless last year, under which the company was bound to increase wages by between 8.6-10.4 percent by July 1 this year, but the firm wanted to increase wages by only 3 percent, and was offering an additional 2 percent increase in December.

Solidarity said in a statement the company had agreed it would not shed jobs until December this year, but had earlier this year said it would dismiss 10 percent or 160 of its workers, who were given the option of taking voluntary severance packages. Some 130 employees took the option, the union said.

Solidarity spokesman Jaco Kleynhans said the wage dispute had been referred to the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC) for mediation.

Columbus Stainless’ spokeswoman Jenny Smit said she could not immediately comment on the wage dispute.

The company is located in Middelburg in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province in the northeast of the country.

Spain’s Acerinox S.A. has a 76 percent stake in Columbus Stainless. The rest of the firm’s shares are held equally by Samancor — a joint venture between Anglo American Plc and BHP Billiton Plc and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa