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Motor industry strikes the wall
LABOUR DISPUTES
THE R30-billion-a-year motor industry could come to a standstill this week in a full-blown strike arising from an unresolved dispute between employers and workers. The strike, starting on Thursday or Friday, will affect more than 21 000 workers at seven plants in Rosslyn, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth - and could upset billions of rands worth of exports orders recently won by Volkswagen, Samcor and other manufacturers. The major contracts involve the production of 68 000 fourth-generation Volkswagen Golfs for the UK market over an 18-month period worth R5-billion and an order for 55 000 Ford engines a year over eight years which would earn more than R200-million a year in foreign currency. Both contracts have extremely tight delivery schedules. To fulfil the VW order, it will be necessary to manufacture 10 cars an hour, on a three-shift basis, or one every six minutes. When this contract was announced, human resource director Brian Smith said: "A one-week strike would be critical to the operation, two weeks would be disastrous." If the strike spreads to allied industries, including the components sector, BMW will feel the impact as its Babalegi factory produces 85% of leather seats delivered to Germany each week. This order is worth more than R900-million a year. The dispute between the Automobile Manufacturers Employers Organisation (Ameo) and workers, represented mainly by the National Union of Metals Workers of SA (Numsa), was declared at the beginning of last month, and referred to the Commission for Consolidation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). If the deadlock is not resolved within 30 days, a legal strike can be called. In an earlier effort to resolve the dispute, Ameo increased its wage offer in the middle of last month from the 6.5% previously offered to 8% for hourly paid production workers and to 7.5% for artisans in an effort to reach a three-year labour settlement. Ameo's offer included a wage increase linked to the CPI in the second and third years, but in a surprise move Numsa demanded the CPI increase plus 2% in second and third years. Ameo's increase would mean an average basic wage for production employees of R3 065 a month before benefits and overtime. Ameo asked Numsa for another meeting on Tuesday, but the union said the possibility of resolution was not encouraging. Smith, who is also Ameo chairman, said a national strike would have dramatic consequences for the industry and the economy. "All seven (manufacturers) have or are currently negotiating extensive export contracts. Strike action will impact on overseas plants, and certain parts that are produced locally (and exported) could even stop production overseas," he said. "Many thousands of jobs in the industry are now dependent on export orders, and these could be placed at risk." Describing motor manufacturers as "intransigent" and lacking in management skills, Tony Kgobe, Numsa's national sector co-ordinator, said the mandate from the National Shop Steward Council after two days of intense discussion was that "workers should embark on full-blown industrial strike action as soon as we receive the certificate from the commissioner". The union will approach the CCMA on Tuesday for the certificate (for a legal strike) and give employers 48 hours' notice. "We will be on strike on either Thursday or Friday," said Kgobe. The right to strike was entrenched in the Labour Relations Act and the constitution. In other developments on the labour front, all but two unions in the metal and electrical industries accepted the final settlement negotiated with the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of SA (Seifsa). Seifsa's executive director, Brian Angus, said that the Metal and Electrical Workers Union of SA and the Chemical Workers Industrial Union had yet to accept the terms. The National Union of Metal Workers' of SA (Numsa), the Steel, Engineering and Allied workers' Union of SA and the Radio, Television, Electronics and Allied Workers' Union representing about 270 000 workers accepted an increased offer of 7.2% from Seifsa. On Friday, the SA Footplate Staff Association went on strike after its wage negotiations with Metrorail deadlocked. More than a million rail commuters were affected. The matter has been referred to the CCMA. On Thursday, the dispute between the National Union of Mineworkers and De Beers was resolved, but the SA Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers' Union was threatening a strike at retail group Edgars. According to industrial relations group Andrew Levy & Associates, in 91.6% of wage negotiations surveyed in the first half of the year no industrial action was taken, and it took 84 days on average to reach agreement. The survey showed that the average wage settlement in the first half of the year was 9.2% compared with 9.7% in the previous year, with increases ranging from 6% in the municipal sector to 18% in transport. Initial union demands ranged from 9% to 150%, while employers offers range from zero to 10% with an average of 6%. The average minimum wage in the first six months was R1 884. Andrew Levy said that in the first half of the year, 310 000 man-days were lost to strikes, compared with 260 000 in the same period last year.
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