Cape Town - A two-day wildcat strike at a Mercedes-Benz car plant in South Africa ended on Tuesday, but the industrial union Numsa demanded a hefty pay hike for the sector, raising the prospect of manufacturing unrest alongside turmoil in the mines.
“We are demanding a 20-percent increase across the board,” Mphumzi Maqungo, national treasurer for National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (Numsa), told Reuters. “If our demands are not met we will have no option but to go to the streets.”
The rand hit a four-year low against the dollar on Monday after the German luxury car maker confirmed production at its assembly plant had been affected by an unscheduled walkout at the end of last week.
The currency had already been under pressure amid concerns that labour unrest and massive wage demands in the gold and coal mining sectors could hit growth in Africa's biggest economy.
Analysts had painted the swift conclusion of the Mercedes strike as positive for the economy and currency, which has lost more than 10 percent against the dollar this year, although the threat from Numsa is likely to dampen that view.
The biggest fear is an outbreak of major unrest in the mines, where a vicious union turf war spilled over into violence last year and 50 people were killed, including 34 shot dead by police, the biggest loss of life at the hands of security forces since the end of apartheid in 1994.
South Africa's car sector is centred on Johannesburg, Durban and the coastal cities of East London and Port Elizabeth.
It includes a number of original equipment and component manufacturers such as Toyota, Nissan, Volkswagen and Ford. - Reuters