South Africa will learn once again the price that democracies pay when the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) goes on strike today. After all, our Bill of Rights, in line with all democracies around the world, enshrines every worker’s right to form and join a trade union, to participate in the activities and programmes of a trade union, and to go on strike.
Numsa’s 220 000 members are set go out on an indefinite strike that will put the boot into the country’s economy that is still reeling from a five-month strike by workers in the platinum mining sector which ended last week.
The number of the Numsa strikers are almost three times those of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union whose industrial action, the longest wage strike in the country’s history, crippled the world’s three biggest platinum mining companies – Lonmin, Anglo American Platinum and Impala Platinum.
On the table are union demands of a 12 percent wage increase, the scrapping of labour brokers and a one-year bargaining agreement. The metals and engineering companies are offering seven percent for skilled workers and eight percent for lower-level employees.
While it is not known how long the Numsa strike will go on, should it drag on for any length of time it will almost certainly make the recession threat that’s been looming on the horizon a reality. The strike, which will directly affect 10 500 companies, will hurt the building, construction and other related industries. Vehicle production, where most of Numsa’s members work, will most certainly be brought to a halt.
This strike, like the one that just ended, will further dent the country’s reputation among international investors. The timing is unfortunate – it comes at a time when the full impact of the platinum strike is yet to be felt.
The positions of the two parties are not irreconcilable. They will therefore do well to find an amicable resolution as soon as possible in order to avoid another devastating pounding to our economy.