Striking metal workers march

010714 Numsa strike resumed today around the country.photo by Simphiwe Mbokazi 8

010714 Numsa strike resumed today around the country.photo by Simphiwe Mbokazi 8

Published Jul 1, 2014

Share

Johannesburg - Thousands of striking metal sector workers arrived at their industry's bargaining council in central Johannesburg to deliver a memorandum on Tuesday.

Congress of SA Trade Unions' general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi arrived and sang along with the strikers.

He wore a red beret with a National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) emblem on it and carried a placard with the words “Down with labour brokers”.

The memorandum would be handed to officials from the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council.

Numsa members were on Tuesday protesting in Cape Town, George, Durban, Port Elizabeth, and East London.

Numsa, the majority union in the sector, wants a 12 percent salary increase, the scrapping of labour brokers, and a one-year bargaining agreement.

A deadlock in negotiations led to a strike notice from Numsa, as well as the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers' Union, and the General Industries Workers' Union of SA.

Employers have tabled a three-year wage settlement offer of between seven and eight percent for different levels of workers in the first year, and CPI-linked increases for 2015 and 2016. - Sapa

Related Topics: