Media holding statement and
Q & A on SAEFA’s de-federation
W
e can confirm that the South African Engineers and Founders Association
(SAEFA) tendered its resignation from the Steel and Engineering Industries
Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) on Thursday, 1 December 2016,
following its Special General Meeting on 30 November 2016. The Association continued to
be a member of SEIFSA until the end of December 2016, during which period it is serviced
notice.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q
A
: Why did SAEFA resign from SEIFSA?
and that they are both malicious and baseless.
For the record, SEIFSA is strictly a mandate-
driven organization. The Federation derives
its mandates from its members, which meet in
an assembly of Associations called the SEIFSA
Council, to debate matters and agree on a
common position that becomes the Federation’s
mandate. This has always been the way in which
the Federation has operated. When there is no
unanimity among member Associations on any
matter, the majority position adopted at the
SEIFSA Council becomes SEIFSA’s mandate on
that matter.
: For some time now, the Association has not been aligned with SEIFSA and its member
Associations on a number of issues. These include approaches on the position of the
financially-challenged Metals and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council and extension
of collective agreements to non-parties, among others. The SEIFSA constituency regards
the MEIBC as an important institution whose survival is vital for industrial stability in
the sector, and believes that collective agreements reached by the majority of parties in
negotiations should be extended to non-parties, while SAEFA holds different views on
these issues.
Q
A
: Were the disag reements of such a nature that they could not have
been solved?
: To the end, we believed strongly that a way could be found to ensure alignment
between the SAEFA leadership and SEIFSA. After all, for many years SAEFA was
one of the most loyal members and ardent supporters of the Federation. Things started
to change when the current leadership of SAEFA was elected two years ago. Regrettably,
despite numerous efforts by the SEIFSA Executive Team and the Board to resolve differences
with the Association, in the end some in the SAEFA leadership campaigned actively and
aggressively for the Association to resign from SEIFSA, South Africa’s oldest and largest
employer representative in the metals and engineering sector.
Q
: We understand that the SAEFA leadership has been critical about
the way in which SEIFSA has been led and has alleged that the
organisation has failed to implement mandates from its members. How
do you respond?
A
: Yes, some in the top leadership of the SAEFA have, indeed, made a series of unfounded
allegations against SEIFSA and have been very reluctant to accept incontrovertible
facts that disprove their allegations. It is important to note that these allegations have been
made by some individuals, and not by the entire Association or all of those in its leadership,
The SEIFSA constituency
regards the MEIBC as
an important institution
whose survival is vital for
industrial stability in the
sector, and believes that
collective agreements
reached by the majority
of parties in negotiations
should be extended to
non-parties, while SAEFA
holds different views on
these issues
SEIFSA AT 75 - SPECIAL COMMEMORATIVE MAGAZINE
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