NATIONAL NEWS - One person collapsed and died during the demonstration in Gqeberha as thousands of National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) members in the steel industry downed tools across the country on Tuesday, demanding a wage increase.
We followed demonstrations in Johannesburg, Durban, Gqeberha and Cape Town.
Numsa is demanding an 8% wage increase for the first year of a three year agreement among several other demands.
In Johannesburg, Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown was a sea of red as thousands of workers gathered there to mark the start of the nationwide strike.
Numsa members said that negotiations with employer associations in the engineering sector had deadlocked.
The group marched from the square to the Metals Engineering Industries Bargaining Council office in Marshalltown to hand over the memorandum. Representatives from the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa and the South African Engineers and Founders Association accepted and signed the memorandum.
According to Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, Numsa spokesperson, negotiations began in June this year.
“We have called for a total shutdown in the engineering sector because workers are fed up. Employer associations are refusing to negotiate in a meaningful way,” she said.
Hlubi-Majola said the deadlock is a slap in the face of workers who decided to forego a wage increase in 2020 and agreed to a standstill agreement, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Vuyisile Mini Square in Gqeberha was a sea of red as NUMSA members gathered to mark the start of the strike by steel engineering workers on Tuesday.
Photo: Joseph Chirume
