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4 October, 2010
A 30-day strike by 6,000 rubber workers of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) at six tyre plants ended on 29 September when the union accepted the three-year wage and other terms put forward on behalf of three of four global rubber companies by the New Tyre Manufacturing Employers’ Industry Association (NTMEIA).
But NUMSA and one of the tyre manufacturers operating in South Africa, Bridgestone/Firestone, remain at odds over a current agreement. The union suspended the strike last week at two Firestone plants that employ 2,500 of those 6,000 rubber workers, and an internal meeting among NUMSA national, regional, and shop-floor leaders at the two Firestone plants – Brits near Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth – will be held in mid-October to shape a strategy over this unresolved bargain.
Bridgestone/Firestone, through the NTMEIA, is offering two percent less each year in wages than the other three companies, Continental, Goodyear, and Apollo-Dunlop.
With those companies, NUMSA secured fair wage gains over the three years, as well as higher gains for workers who had been stuck in low-end pay grades of many job classifications. NUMSA also won important new language on the use of labour brokers.
A first-year increase, backdated to 1 July, was set at 9%. The second- and third-year increases will each be 7.5% or South Africa’s consumer price index in 2011 and 2012, whichever is higher. In comparison, Bridgestone has on the table increases of 7%, 5%, and 5%.
Commencing in July 2011, for those workers with three or more years of service, the difference between the minimum and maximum pay grades in several job categories, about 10% now, will be bridged over a three-year time frame beginning. Thus, roughly half of all rubber workers in South Africa’s six factories will see well over the 7.5% increases both in 2011 and 2012.
Regarding labour brokers, NUMSA and the NTMEIA agreed to continue a policy of non-usage of brokers and adopted a policy to begin phasing out all labour brokers. The two parties agreed to a joint monitoring committee on the issue, and that work will begin early in 2011. Goodyear and Continental factories do not rely on labour brokers, but the Firestone and Apollo-Dunlop plants do.
NUMSA has hardened its policy against labour brokers and has won company-paid social benefits and medical aid for contract workers. Along with many South African unions, NUMSA was seeking a total ban on labour-hire firms, with an alternative plan to give contract workers full-time and permanent jobs.