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30 July, 2007
Bridgestone Corp. responded to toughening tyre talks in South Africa with a lockout. Rubber workers of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) at Port Elizabeth and Brits factories found themselves on the streets a week ago.
NUMSA and three transnational rubbermakers have been locked in a pay dispute in South Africa, one of several ongoing labour dispute in the country. NUMSA and its 6,000 members in the rubber industry insist on not less than a 10% pay adjustment, while bosses are now just beginning to move upward from 7%.
On 17 July, a shop stewards’ council decided to begin industrial actions against the three companies because several rounds of bargaining failed to resolve the wage issue. The work stoppages, and now Bridgestone’s lockout, are having an adverse effect on production at the six tyre plants, admitted the head of the tyre employers’ association.
NUMSA is demanding full wage and benefit disclosure between hourly and salaried workers, as well as the pay increases over the past five years for executives, along with their perks.
The union is seeking to limit the use of contractors at the rubber plants in this set of talks. NUMSA also seeks an incremental adjustment for certain employees, and an increase in the allowance for shift work.
The talks between NUMSA and the tyre producers, through employers’ grouping New Tyre Manufacturing Industry, cover workers at the two Bridgestone plants, at Continental A.G.’s plant in Port Elizabeth, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.’s plant in Uitenhage, and Dunlop Tyres (Pty.) Ltd., a company owned by the Indian holding company Apollo Tyres Group, which has factories in Durban and Ladysmith, as well as rubber interests in Zimbabwe.
The ICEM supports South African affiliate NUMSA in its fight for a fair and just labour agreement for the 6,000 rubber workers.