More than 50 000 South African vehicle-component workers are set to go on indefinite strike on Wednesday after a breakdown in wage talks, the main metalworkers’ union said on Monday.
Mziwakhe Hlangani, spokesperson for the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), said in a statement the strike would affect automotive-component suppliers and retail and body-repair workshops throughout the country.
It would also indirectly affect a growing car-manufacturing industry after carmakers staved off their own strike last month in a last-minute deal.
”Production in the major multinational car-manufacturing plants will in turn be severely affected by the indefinite strike in the component-manufacturing and motor-retail sectors,” Hlangani said.
DaimlerChrysler, Volkswagen, BMW, General Motors, Nissan, Ford, Toyota and India’s Tata all make cars in South Africa. They employ about 39 000 workers.
The union — the biggest in the automobile industry — said it had issued a 48-hour notice of a protected strike in support of demands for a 9% wage increase countrywide, and for the minimum wages in poorer areas to be increased.
The industry is offering between 7% and 9% pay rises but Numsa says companies discriminate against workers in plants outside the major urban areas.
South Africa has suffered a series of strikes over pay over the past three months in key sectors including at refineries and mines and highlighted by a four-week civil servant stoppage that crippled state hospitals and schools. — Reuters