Volkswagen cannot understand the rationale for a strike at a Gauteng parts depot because nobody has lost jobs, the company said on Thursday.
”Volkswagen of South Africa cannot understand the reasoning behind this unnecessary strike which will lead to great financial hardship for the 62 employees involved who are losing money every day they remain on strike,” a statement from the company read.
”In summary, no Volkswagen of South Africa employees have lost their jobs and they are not under threat of retrenchment.”
Their salaries will remain the same and their benefits will not be effected.
Workers have downed tools at the company’s parts factory in Roodekop, east of Johannesburg, due to an outsourcing agreement with logistics supply company UTi.
Under the agreement, 19 people in the parts packing department were relocated elsewhere in the company.
The company felt that as UTi already handled the distribution of parts, if it also handled the packing it would improve efficiency and accountability.
The company said the National Bargaining Forum agreement with the union allowed outsourcing and also pledged to provide employees whose job security was affected by outsourcing with alternative employment.
But the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) said it was concerned about what it saw as a growing trend to outsourcing.
Describing the new contractor UTi as a labour broker, which the carmaker denies, Numsa spokesperson Ntuli said: ”We need to stop this now. Outsourcing leaves workers vulnerable to exploitation.
”We think the trend is for VW to continue outsourcing departments and at the end of the day, we fear they will end up outsourcing the assembly line.”
Workers would not receive such benefits as medical aid, pension funds and sick leave, and would not be allowed to join a union. They would also become demoralised and productivity would drop, Ntuli said.
The company said the outsourcing deal had created 22 new jobs in the packing section, but Ntuli asked: ”Those people [the 19 relocated] have experience and skills to do the job. Why do you outsource the packing area?”
Numsa would ballot members on Monday over a solidarity strike which could include up to 6 000 workers at the company’s head office in Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape.
Meanwhile, steps have been taken to ensure parts supply from the warehouse and production at the main Uitenhage factory had not been affected, the company said. – Sapa