Numsa George joins national strike

Video

GEORGE NEWS & VIDEO - Local members of Numsa (National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa) took to the streets in George yesterday during a nationwide strike in the union's engineering sector over a wage dispute. The strike started on Tuesday 5 October.

A peaceful protest was conducted in the industrial area, with union members singing, dancing and waving placards.

Numsa's official in the Southern Cape, Mteteleli Mandeka, said they hoped for further negotiations.

"The reason for the strike is to bring the employer back to the negotiation table so that we can negotiate for further increases. The strike is indefinite. As long as there is no agreement, the strike will continue," he said.

"We are demanding that employers must put an 8% increase on the table across the board for the first year, and Consumer Price Index (CPI) + a 2% improvement factor for the second and third year. If CPI + 2% falls below 6% , employers must offer 6% or re-open negotiations. We demand that the increases finally reached be backdated to 1 July 2021."

The employers body, Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of SA (Seifsa), is offering a 4,4% increase for 2021.

Yesterday Economist Mike Schussler of economists.co.za, told the morning actuality show Monitor on radio station RSG, that 4,4% is a very reasonable increase in light of our current economic situation.

"South Africa has an unemployment rate of 34,4%, the highest in the world. People are losing jobs and it is a tragedy. When commodity prices go down, more people may lose jobs. We have the highest inequality in the world and it is because people do not have jobs. Our manufacturing sector is employing less people than in 1969. We are heading for a disaster and nobody is talking about it," Schussler said.