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6 September, 2010
Day eight of the strike by 6,000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) against four global tyre producers begins today with negotiations continuing. NUMSA and the New Tyre Manufacturing Employers’ Industry Association (NTMEIA) have been locked in a dispute since mid-August over pay, term of agreement, labour brokers and short-term contract workers, and other conditions of work.
The four tyre companies affected include Bridgestone/Firestone, Continental, Goodyear, and Apollo-Dunlop. Bridgestone/Firestone and Continental had served notices of lockout to NUMSA prior to the strike.
The employers’ association is seeking a three-year agreement, while NUMSA prefers a one-year deal. The two sides remain far apart on wages. NUMSA is seeking an 11% initial year increase while bosses have offered 8.5%, with the exception of Bridgestone which is offering 7%. Employers are offering a second-and third-year increase pegged at the consumer price index (CPI) plus 1%, or 5%, whichever is higher.
If it is to agree on a three-year pact, NUMSA is insistent on year two containing either a 12% increase or CPI plus 2%, whichever is greater, and a third year increase of 14% or CPI plus 3%, whichever is higher.
The union seeks consultation over all short-term or temporary employment contracts, as well as abolishment of all labour brokers in the South African tyre industry. It also wants direct temporary workers to be made permanent, full-time staff at six months of service. Other contentious issues include a 70% local content requirement regarding sourcing, premium pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, and an adequate training pool and training to occur during work-time hours.
(Photo: International Metalworkers' Federation)
NUMSA and the NTMEIA have been negotiating since April 2010 on a renewal agreement to a three-year pact that expired on 30 June.
On 1 September, NUMSA also launched a strike against both the Retail Industry Motor Association and the Fuel Retailers’ Association. Carrying out those strikes are 70,000 NUMSA members at garages, auto component shops, petrol stations, and various workshops and retail outlets that make auto components.
Besides a 40-hour work-week, the union is seeking 15% across-the-board increases for notoriously low-paid workers in these areas, while the associations are offering only 6.6%. Already, one auto assembly plant, Volkswagen in Utinhage, has had to shut operations and send workers home due to a shortage of auto components.
On 2 September, the ICEM sent affiliated NUMSA and its General Secretary, Irvin Jim (photo on site), a message of solidarity, stating, “We have learned that your 6,000 members in the tyre industry, overwhelmingly at the multinational companies namely Bridgestone, Continental, Apollo-Dunlop, and Goodyear, as well as 50,000 members in the auto-supplier industries, are now striking following the failure of collective negotiations due to your rightful demands not being accepted by employers.
“On behalf of the whole ICEM family, I cordially salute the heroic strikes engaged by NUMSA and its members in both industries. I am also proud to announce our heartfelt solidarity and support to you. We have already alarmed our affiliated unions in those sectors throughout the world who are shoulder-to-shoulder with you.”
The strikes in all three South African auto-related industries come just two weeks after 31,000 NUMSA auto workers struck seven car makers affiliated to the Automobile Manufacturers Employers’ Association. That strike lasted eight days, until 19 August.