South Africa’s largest metalworkers union launched an indefinite strike seeking rise in pay on Tuesday. The industry and union officials said that the union had threatened to block supplies of machine parts and other materials required for car manufacturing.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) has declared a total shutdown of the engineering industry. The declaration was after the wage talks and negotiations failed with the employer bodies. The arbitration between the workers union and the employers had utterly failed, which forced the union to call for indefinite strike until their demands are met.
The metalwokers union has a strength of over 155,000 members in the sector. In a statement given to the local media, NUMSA said that they were left with no choice but to strike and to withhold their labour indefinitely until their bosses give into their demands which were just and rightful.
Several rallies and marches were organised by the union across the country on Tuesday. Thousands of workers and union members attended the protests and marched downtown in Johannesburg. Protesters wore red coloured coat which was the trademark of NUMSA. They held up placards and signs that said ‘An injury to one, is an injury to all’.
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