Numsa to push ahead with strike despite ill-effects on the economy
It says action is ‘living wage campaign’
THE National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) yesterday vowed to push ahead with a strike by about 220,000 members in spite of warnings that the industrial action would hurt the economy.
The number of Numsa members likely to down tools from tomorrow is about three times that of the participants in the five-month stoppage at platinum mines. That strike caused a 0.6% contraction of the economy in the first quarter.
“This is not economic sabotage … it is a living wage campaign,” Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said yesterday. “When the economy is bad, bosses make money; when it is good, bosses make money.”
The government and the African National Congress (ANC) are concerned about the effect of the strike, which will hit the manufacturing sector hard. Employers have accused Numsa of “jumping the gun” by walking away from negotiations and for failing to recognise that the strike could lead to job losses and the further erosion of SA’s reputation as an investment destination.
Five other small trade unions involved in the wage talks are also going on strike, but Solidarity is not.
Mr Jim said Numsa was aware that there were attempts by the government to prevent the strike taking place, but that the union was merely doing what the ANC should be doing — introducing a national minimum wage, which would place unions on a better footing during the bargaining process.
Numsa is demanding a 12% wage increase and companies are offering 7% for skilled workers and 8% for lower-level workers. It is also demanding that labour brokers be banned.
Numsa deputy general secretary Karl Cloete said workers had to “make do” as inflation and living costs rose after the union settled on a three-year wage deal during the last round of negotiations.
But the strike can be seen as an attempt by Numsa to flex its political muscle. Mr Jim said talks with employers were going on, yet the union was pressing ahead.
Numsa did not fund the ANC ahead of the May elections and is exploring forming a rival party. It has set up a United Front and will hold a symposium of local and international leftist parties in August.
Numsa is likely to anger sister affiliates in the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) with its plans to hold a
THE National Union of Metalworkers of SA’s (Numsa’s) strike in the engineering sector will be the main bone of contention on the labour, political and business fronts this week.
The economy is still trying to pick itself up from the five-month platinum sector strike that has cost the economy billions of rand in lost revenue to mining companies and related businesses and in wages to the workers.
Last week Numsa announced that its 220,000 members in the engineering sector would down tools this week in demand of a 12% across the board wage increase. The union has 330,000 members and is the largest affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), which in turn is a member of the African National Congress’ (ANC’s) ruling tripartite alliance.
However, Numsa has found itself something of a renegade member in Cosatu. Ahead of the May 7 national and provincial elections, it said it would not campaign for the ANC as it did in previous elections, and talked about forming a left-wing workers’ party to contest future elections, and took the side of Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi during his suspension.
Cosatu has tabled a motion to expel Numsa from the labour movement and while it seems to be on hold, the fact that the ANC has expressed its displeasure about another strike may mean it will be resurrected.
Comments from a Numsa press briefing yesterday, such as “NUM (National Union of Mineworkers) is there to look after the shares of the ANC bosses”, look set to add fuel to the fire.
The Numsa strike will kick off tomorrow with marches occurring in six major centres, and on Wednesday its members are due to hold a protest at Eskom’s head office.
About 23 engineering and steel companies have applied to have the workers locked out of their premises during the strike.
That lockout has been opposed by minority union Solidarity, which says its members are not part of the strike and want to keep working.
NUM’s central committee will meet on Wednesday to make “deep and overall analysis of the mining sector”. A NUM statement said the platinum belt strike had destroyed local economic activities which sustained people in terms of jobs.
“Furthermore the reality is that mine workers did not receive R12,500 per month as promised by their union which was the primary demand for the last five months,” the NUM statement said.
Agang SA has its own leadership issues. A faction of the party wants to expel its founder and leader Mamphela Ramphele. However, Dr Ramphele and her supporters want an investigation into R200,000 that was given to the party by the Electoral Commission of SA, which seems to have disappeared.
Parliamentary committees are due to start getting down to business this week.
Among the departments delivering their strategic briefings will be those of energy; agriculture, forestry and fisheries; and public works.
The Democratic Alliance is fuming about yesterday’s Sunday Times report saying that one of its MPs, Phumzile van Damme, allegedly misrepresented her citizenship and birth records.
Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba will speak on SABC’s TV2 breakfast show on Friday morning and there is no doubt that Ms van Damme’s case will be raised, along with immigration regulations that came into effect last month.