South Africa’s preparations for the 2010 Soccer World Cup were dealt a new blow on Wednesday by a fresh bout of strike action by construction workers at one of the host stadiums, their union said.
Workers building a new stadium in Nelspruit downed tools in a dispute over pay and working conditions, only two days after a similar strike at a stadium in Durban was called off.
A spokesperson for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) confirmed that a strike was under way and spelled out the workers’ demands.
”They are demanding a R1 000 ($150) project bonus and they also want to be paid in accordance with what is obtainable in the engineering sector which fixes R11,90 per hour of work,” said spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka.
”Negotiations are under way to resolve the crisis,” said Seshoka, who said he was in regular touch with the strikers’ representatives.
The NUM’s regional coordinator Onismus Serothwane said that more than 1 000 workers were involved in the strike in Nelspruit.
”They are asking for project bonuses and increment in their hourly payment in line with what is obtainable in the construction industry,” he said.
The latest strike came as thousands of delegates and journalists began arriving in South Africa ahead of this weekend’s draw in Durban for the qualifying rounds of the tournament.
A strike also halted construction at a stadium in Cape Town earlier this year but the organisers insist preparations are still on track for the tournament, which is being staged in Africa for the first time.
Inequality
Rising inequality 13 years into democratic rule has been at the root of a slew of strikes this year. South Africa’s Gini coefficient — a globally accepted measure of income inequality — rose from 0,6 in 1996 to 0,65 in 2005, one of the world’s worst scores.
A month-long strike of public-sector workers in June was followed by stoppages in the metal, petrol and car-parts industry.
Claiming exploitation by ”fat cat” contractors, 1 200 unionised workers at Durban’s Moses Mabhida stadium downed tools for two weeks.
The strike ended on Monday with employers agreeing to R1 000-a-month per worker in bonuses over the next six months.
The deal also extended the sectoral minimum wage to all workers at the site after it emerged some workers were being paid R6 an hour instead of the minimum of R11,98.
In September, a week-long strike at Cape Town’s Green Point stadium was settled after employers agreed to lay on transport to the site for workers and to compensate them for past travel costs.
”The unions are taking advantage of a good chance to blackmail everyone into submission,” said Mike Moody, 2010 project manager at Soccer City stadium in Soweto, the venue for the opening and closing World Cup games.
Around 30% of Soccer City’s R1 600 workers are on the minimum wage, said Moody, defending low wages as necessary to hire more workers and bring down unemployment.
Official unemployment stands at 27,5%, a figure that rises to close to 40% when those no longer looking for work are included. – Sapa, AFP