Carmaker BMW says it is unable to produce hundreds of cars at its assembly plant in Rosslyn in Pretoria due to a shortage of steel at its suppliers.
This as the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) has vowed to continue its crippling strike in the steel and engineering sector. The wage strike is now in its second week and is said to be costing the steel industry around R300 million a day.
NUMSA is demanding an 8 percent increase across the board. But steel employers are now divided on the offer to the union. The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa has improved its offer from 4.4 percent to 6 percent but the National Employers Association of South Africa and The South African Engineers & Founders Association, are refusing to budge. NUMSA General Secretary Irvin Jim says the strike will continue.
“NUMSA is ready to meet with employer organisation and negotiate the settlement in whatever platform. To an extent that employers are ready to meet under section 150 facilitated by CCMA. NUMSA is ready to engage and we call on the employer association to use this platform for genuine engagement- it cannot be used as delaying a tactic,” Jim says.
VIDEO: The Labour Force – NUMSA and the South African Transport Workers Union strike
