Welcome

South African Engineers’ and Founders’ Association

The SA Engineers and Founders Association (SAEFA) represents the interests of hundreds of member companies in the metal and engineering industry. These companies range in size from very small employers to large multinational organisations. SAEFA not only offers a wide range of direct services to member companies but also represents the interests of our members at both industry and national levels. 

SAEFA’s direct services to member companies, available at a reduced fee to these companies compared to what a non-member company would pay in the market, include assistance on all matters affecting the relationship between themselves and their employees/trade unions – for example:

  • Dispute resolution, conciliation, mediation and arbitration services 
  • Advice, assistance, consultancy and training on labour legislation, employment conditions and all other Industrial Relations matters
  • Assistance is also provided with health and safety matters, broad-based black economic empowerment, contract price adjustments and skills development through our affiliate organisations

For full information on these services contact SAEFA’s Executive Director, Gordon Angus, at gordon@saefa.co.za. 

SAEFA also represents the interests of our member companies in all industry negotiations with the industry’s trade unions, not only on wages and other conditions of employment but also on the industry’s benefit funds which provide benefits to employees such as pensions, permanent disability and sick pay benefits. SAEFA has its own seats at the MEIBC, participating directly in all activities there.

Being a member of SAEFA allows you to have a direct say in what happens in your industry.

 

News

Invitation to Join His Excellency President Cyril Ramaposa on a State Visit and FOCAC Summit

8 August 2018

Please see below an invitation extended to us by the Department of Trade and Industry, through Business Unity South Africa.  Any member wishing to join the President Ramaphosa as part of the business delegation on his State visit to China may fill in the required documentation and submit same directly to the dti.

 

The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) would like to invite you and your members to form part of the business delegation that will be joining His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa on his State Visit and during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) scheduled to take place from 01 – 04 September 2018, in Beijing, China.

You are kindly requested to identify and coordinate business members from your organization to be part of the business delegation accompanying the President. Participants are requested to complete the attached registration form to the dti on or before the 15 August 2018.

NUMSA Stay Away 1 August 2018

31 July 2018

As you may have read from the notice below currently doing the rounds, NUMSA are requesting that employees be released on full pay to participate in protest action on 1 August 2018.

 

NUMSA Notice of Protest Action 30 July 2018

Please note that whilst socio-economic protest action is catered for under the Labour Relations Act, the requisite procedures and notice have not been followed in this case and so any employee who chooses to participate in the protest action will not be entitled to be paid for the day, will not be entitled to a shift for Leave Pay purposes and may be disciplined, should management wish to take such action.

For queries, please contact Gordon on 083 412 1437 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Considering Short-Time, Lay-Offs or Retrenchments?

23 July 2018

Are You Having to Consider Short-Time, Lay-Offs or Retrenchments in 2018?

The metal and engineering industry is now under more pressure than ever before, following the commodities slump of a few years ago, felt particularly hard in this sector.  Coupled with collective bargaining arrangements that have led to unsustainably high labour costs, this means that short-time, lay-offs and even retrenchments may need to be considered as means of survival. 

Legislation regulating these processes requires that specific procedures be adhered to.  These legal requirements can often prove daunting to employers, particularly those who have never implemented short-time, lay-offs or retrenchments before or who have not had to for some time.

SAEFA Engages at Business Unity South Africa

19 July 2018

As you know, SAEFA joined Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) as of the beginning of this month.  I attended my first BUSA meeting earlier this week, participating in the SME Working Group that has been established specifically to identify and drive key actions for BUSA to contribute to enterprise development for SMEs, start-ups and formalising businesses in South Africa.  In the meeting SAEFA made the point that the task team and the broader work that BUSA performs should not only focus on making it easier to start businesses, but also work at making it substantially easier for existing small to medium sized businesses to stay in business.
 
To this end, one of the objectives of the action plan that has been drawn up is to reduce the regulatory burden for SMEs in South Africa.  SAEFAs intention here is to drive the point home, at national level, about the prohibitive cost of labour in the metal industry and the disastrous effects of the extension of agreements that have been reached to the exclusion of our members will have on our industry.