Johannesburg | Sunday
STEEL and mining giant Iscor has averted an indefinite strike but some 15_000 workers downed tools during their first shift Friday before the union accepted a new wage offer, a union spokesman said.
The five-hour mass action took the form of peaceful meetings during the first shift at the three major steel plants, said Dumisa Ntuli, spokesman for the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa).
“The strike is over effectively from today’s (Friday’s) second shift”, Ntuli said.
“There is no doubt that the strike was difficult for Iscor, in terms of production and contracts — that is the reason they settled so quickly.”
But Iscor spokesman Phaldie Kalam said production had not been disrupted.
Kalam said Numsa and a second union, Mineworkers-Solidarity, accepted the company’s revised offer of a 7% wage increase for highest-paid workers and 9% for the lowest.
The unions originally wanted a 15% across-the-board increase for employees and Iscor originally offered a 7% increase to all workers.
Meanwhile on Friday employers and workers in the automobile manufacturing industry were locked in talks to try and avert a planned strike over salary increases.
Numsa said about 20_000 workers would down tools on Monday if the last-ditch talks, which were continuing Friday evening, did not yield results.
The 1,7-million-strong Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Thursday announced a general strike for August 29 and 30 after failing to win concessions from the government and other parties on the privatisation of state assets.
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said the general strike would be preceded by localised ones.
It wants a freeze on all privatisation initiatives until a new policy framework is developed. – AFP