Beyond Bargaining: NUMSA Centres Industrial Justice in 2025 Labour Struggle
NUMSA Union Members (Source; NUMSA)
Introduction: Wages, Dignity and the Battle to Revive South Africa’s Economy
In March 2025, thousands of unionised metalworkers gathered in Johannesburg for the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA)’s National Bargaining Conference. It was more than a meeting to prepare for wage negotiations. It was a moment to analyse the broader economic crisis that continues to erode South Africa’s industrial base and deepen inequality for its working class.
This year's conference marked a strategic shift. While wage justice remains central, NUMSA is now confronting a deeper question: what kind of economy do workers need to survive and thrive?
NUMSA in Context: Not Just a Union, But a Movement Anchor
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) is the largest single trade union in South Africa, with over 300,000 members in sectors including auto manufacturing, mining, aviation, steel, engineering, plastics, and energy. Founded in 1987 during the twilight of apartheid, NUMSA was born from a merger of progressive unions affiliated with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). It has since become one of the most militant, politically engaged, and well-resourced unions on the continent.
After its expulsion from COSATU in 2014 for taking an independent political path, NUMSA helped found SAFTU (South African Federation of Trade Unions) in 2017 and has since pushed for worker-led transformation, not just within the shop floor but across society.
NUMSA represents a key section of South Africa’s industrial workforce, highly skilled but increasingly squeezed between deindustrialisation, automation, and corporate restructuring.
Bargaining With a Broader Lens: Crisis in the Manufacturing Sector
NUMSA’s 2025 National Bargaining Conference brought together delegates across its core sectors. The discussions went beyond salary adjustments and benefits. Delegates engaged in detailed sessions on deindustrialisation, public sector decay, corruption, and state capture, examining how these issues intersect with declining real wages and mass unemployment.
Veteran trade unionist and former Minister Alec Erwin presented a sobering picture of South Africa’s industrial decline, noting that the country now imports what it once manufactured. Economist Tafadzwa Chibanguza pointed to the stagnation in the plastics industry and called for state-led investment in infrastructure to stimulate demand for locally produced goods and generate sustainable employment.
Representatives from key employers, including Toyota, shared sector-specific challenges. But for workers, the message was clear: capital is reorganising to protect profit, not jobs.
NUMSA’s response? Reorganise labour to defend jobs, expand rights, and build working-class power.
Power and Resistance: The Role of NUMSA in South African Class Politics
NUMSA is not just a wage negotiating body. It has long seen itself as a class-oriented force, using union power to confront what it calls the neoliberal capture of the South African state. It has criticised the ruling African National Congress (ANC) for abandoning the working class and has taken steps to form alternative political vehicles, including support for the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party (SRWP).
The 2025 bargaining season will test NUMSA’s ability to deliver both sectoral wins and structural transformation. With public services in crisis, energy infrastructure unstable, and youth unemployment nearing 50%, the stakes are existential.
But NUMSA is not alone. Unions across the continent, from Kenya’s KPAWU in agriculture to Nigeria’s NUPENG in oil and gas, are similarly expanding their mandates from salary disputes to macro-economic advocacy, showing how labour can be a force for democratic renewal and economic planning.
What Are the Lessons for Other Movements?
NUMSA offers a powerful example of how unions can deepen their impact by linking grassroots struggles to broader national issues. In its wage negotiations, NUMSA doesn’t just focus on immediate demands—it ties sectoral concerns like factory conditions to national industrial policy, illustrating how workers’ realities are shaped by state decisions. Their bargaining conferences go beyond number-crunching sessions; delegates are immersed in workshops on political economy, equipping them with a deeper understanding of the systems they’re up against.
While NUMSA remains politically independent, it strategically coordinates with other unions through the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU), fostering horizontal alliances that transcend party politics. At the heart of it all is worker agency: NUMSA’s leadership comes directly from the shop floor, ensuring that those most affected by decisions are the ones shaping them. This model offers a compelling vision of unionism that is both grounded and transformative.
Conclusion: Bargaining as a Frontline of Economic Democracy
NUMSA’s 2025 bargaining conference was a clear reminder that workers are not just economic actors, they are political agents with a stake in shaping their countries’ futures.
As South Africa’s manufacturing sector continues to decline, and as workers bear the burden of economic mismanagement, NUMSA’s fight goes beyond pay slips. It is a struggle for industrial dignity, economic sovereignty, and a new social contract built from below.
Whether or not this bargaining season delivers every demand, one thing is clear: the working class is not retreating. It is regrouping.
References
Peoples Dispatch. (2025, April 16). NUMSA gears up for 2025 bargaining season at National Bargaining Conference. Link
Government of South Africa. (2025, March 25). Minister Mantashe addresses NUMSA National Bargaining Conference. Link
Legalbrief Workplace. (2025, April 29). NUMSA gears up for sector wage negotiations. Link
NUMSA Official Website. (2024). Organisational Profile and History. Link
SAFTU. (2023). Annual Report: State of the Working Class in South Africa. Link