Big manufacturing and construction companies were the hardest hit on Monday as a national strike by metal and engineering workers got under way.
Smaller firms appeared to have been the least affected, said the Steel and Engineering Industry Federation of South Africa (Seifsa).
”Some big firms reported a stayaway figure of between 50% and 90%, while others suffered a complete stayaway,” said Seifsa executive director Brian Angus.
Unions, which predicted 260 000 workers at about 9 000 companies would down tools, staged demonstrations in two cities on Monday to highlight their pay demands.
In Johannesburg, thousands of workers packed the streets near Seifsa’s offices, while Cape Town also saw a strong turnout of metal workers in the city centre.
The trade unions demand a 10% wage increase for the lowest-grade and 9% for the highest-grade worker, for the next three years. They have vowed to strike ”indefinitely” until their demands are met. Employers are offering a pay rise of between 7,3% and 7,8%.
Last-minute talks at the weekend failed to avert the strike. Angus said the employers and the unions will meet again on Tuesday.
In Johannesburg, the strikers — members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa); Solidarity; the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers’ Union; the Metal and Electrical Workers’ Union of South Africa; the Mineworkers’ Union; and the South African Equity Workers’ Association — gathered at Beyers Naude Square before noon.
The protesters chanted slogans as they marched in Simmonds Street to the corner of Anderson and Sauer streets, where a memorandum was handed to employers.
Angus accepted the memorandum. ”I can assure you that the employer will pay attention to the demands,” he told the marchers. ”We’ll have a meeting tomorrow [Tuesday] where these matters will be further discussed.”
Numsa general secretary Silumko Nondwangu read out the memorandum to the workers. It states in part: ”Companies have had windfall profits in the last two to three years. They are guaranteed huge profits and contracts from government’s roll-out of infrastructure in the next five years. We demand our slice of this cake.”
He said unions also insist on transformation in the metal and engineering industry. ”Our members are deprived of their due in the country’s wealth. Their skills were suppressed, resulting in perpetuating their poverty and also starvation being our lifetime experience.”
In Cape Town, a memorandum was handed to Seifsa representative Colin Booyes. He said he would take the demands to a negotiation meeting in Johannesburg. ”I think we are very close, and I hope we will be able to settle our differences very soon.”
Trade union Solidarity described the first day of the strike as a ”great success”.
Angus said Seifsa will only have a more precise picture of the effects of the strike action later, as it has almost 10 000 companies as members. — SapaJohannesburg, South Africa
METAL STRIKE BITES BIG COMPANIES: SEIFSA
Big manufacturing and construction companies were the hardest hit on Monday as a national strike by metal and engineering workers got under way.
Smaller firms appeared to have been the least affected, said the Steel and Engineering Industry Federation of South Africa (Seifsa).
”Some big firms reported a stayaway figure of between 50% and 90%, while others suffered a complete stayaway,” said Seifsa executive director Brian Angus.
Unions, which predicted 260 000 workers at about 9 000 companies would down tools, staged demonstrations in two cities on Monday to highlight their pay demands.
In Johannesburg, thousands of workers packed the streets near Seifsa’s offices, while Cape Town also saw a strong turnout of metal workers in the city centre.
The trade unions demand a 10% wage increase for the lowest-grade and 9% for the highest-grade worker, for the next three years. They have vowed to strike ”indefinitely” until their demands are met. Employers are offering a pay rise of between 7,3% and 7,8%.
Last-minute talks at the weekend failed to avert the strike. Angus said the employers and the unions will meet again on Tuesday.
In Johannesburg, the strikers — members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa); Solidarity; the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers’ Union; the Metal and Electrical Workers’ Union of South Africa; the Mineworkers’ Union; and the South African Equity Workers’ Association — gathered at Beyers Naude Square before noon.
The protesters chanted slogans as they marched in Simmonds Street to the corner of Anderson and Sauer streets, where a memorandum was handed to employers.
Angus accepted the memorandum. ”I can assure you that the employer will pay attention to the demands,” he told the marchers. ”We’ll have a meeting tomorrow [Tuesday] where these matters will be further discussed.”
Numsa general secretary Silumko Nondwangu read out the memorandum to the workers. It states in part: ”Companies have had windfall profits in the last two to three years. They are guaranteed huge profits and contracts from government’s roll-out of infrastructure in the next five years. We demand our slice of this cake.”
He said unions also insist on transformation in the metal and engineering industry. ”Our members are deprived of their due in the country’s wealth. Their skills were suppressed, resulting in perpetuating their poverty and also starvation being our lifetime experience.”
In Cape Town, a memorandum was handed to Seifsa representative Colin Booyes. He said he would take the demands to a negotiation meeting in Johannesburg. ”I think we are very close, and I hope we will be able to settle our differences very soon.”
Trade union Solidarity described the first day of the strike as a ”great success”.
Angus said Seifsa will only have a more precise picture of the effects of the strike action later, as it has almost 10 000 companies as members. — Sapa