Johannesburg - The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) is set to meet with automobile bosses on Thursday to try and find a way to end an ongoing strike.
“The intentions of tomorrow’s (Thursday) negotiations is to find a possible and lasting settlement on the ongoing strike action in the automobile sector,” Numsa spokesman Castro Ngobese said in a statement on Wednesday evening.
The strike which started on Monday has crippled the sector and halted production.
About 31,000 Numsa-aligned workers downed tools on Monday after pay talks deadlocked last month.
The workers demanded a 14 percent across-the-board wage increase.
They also wanted a R750 monthly housing subsidy and R125 weekly transport allowance.
Ngobese said that on Friday general meetings would be convened by the union's shopstewards and leaders in all the major seven plants in Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, East London, Uitenhage and Durban to give feedback to members.
“These general meetings will allow our members through a democratic and transparent process to engage with the report and outcomes based on our discussions and negotiations that would have taken place with the employers,” he said.
Ngobese added Thursday's meeting with the employer did not suspend the strike action.
“The strike action is still continuing until the automobile ruling oligarchy concedes to workers’ demands. Our members will continue holding pickets or demonstrations outside their respective plants,” he said.
The planned marches for next week in Gauteng and East Cape were set to continue as planned. - Sapa