OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Wednesday 4.00pm
SOME 5000 fishermen have gone on strike in demand of higher wages, closing down processing factories and leaving exporters unable to meet orders, reports said on Wednesday.
The Cape Argus said the strike, which began on Saturday, has brought the pelagic fish processing industry on the country’s west coast to a near halt. It has shut down factories which process pilchards and anchovies in the towns of Elandsbaai, Lambert’s Bay, Gansbaai, Hout Bay and St Helena Bay, where frustrated workers set alight oil drums on Tuesday.
The newspaper said the strike is the result of a wage dispute which has been dragging on since July. Fishermen are demanding a 10,5% wage increase, while the industry is offering 7,5%.
Dan de Villiers a spokesman for the South African Pelagic Fish Processors’ Association, told SABC public radio employers are unlikely to be swayed by the strike. “We can’t foresee any increase in our final offer and if they do not accept it, it is their right to strike,” he said. “At the moment it is in full go, all the factories are shut down.”
De Villiers said the strike is bad for the industry and not good for for the fishermen, because the fishing companies are enforcing a no-work, no-pay policy. William Thomas, a spokesman for the Food and Allied Worker’s Union, said the union will call on part-time workers not to respond to industry calls to stand in for the strikers. — AFP