Numsa strike grinds automotive manufacturing industry to a halt
- Published on 21 Aug 2013
- HR Pulse News Desk
According to a report by Siphiwe Sithole in the Business Report, approximately 31 000 workers in the automotive manufacturing industry, who are aligned with the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa), went on strike on Monday after wage talks deadlocked.
The New Age reports that the strike has caused all automotive factories to close. The newspaper also reports that industry workers are demanding a blanket 14% wage increase in addition to a R750 housing subsidy and a weekly R125 transport allowance.
"Employers - including giants Toyota, BMW, General Motors and Nissan - are only offering 6%, an increase which does no more than make up for what they have lost through inflation, which is currently estimated in the Consumer Price Index at 5.9%," said Elias Kubeka, Numsa's national motor sector coordinator.
Business Day reports labour experts as saying that approximately R700 million would be lost per day that the automotive workers are on strike. This figure would, in all likelihood, be far more than anything that the workers could hope to gain.
