Striking workers in South Africa’s steel and engineering industry are considering
a revised pay offer from employers, as an expanding job action enters its 11th day.
Unions from several key sectors joined in this week, after about 170 thousand workers
from the National Union of Metalworkers, Metal and Electrical Workers' and the SA
Equity Workers' unions started a countrywide strike last week, demanding a ban on
labour brokers and wage increases from 10% to 13%. The editor of South Africa’s leading
Catholic weekly, The Southern Cross Newspaper, Gunther Simmermacher told Vatican Radio
the stoppage has already more than begun to make itself felt. “Fuel is already running
out,” in several different parts of the country, he said, including Johannesburg,
where more than 150 service stations have been forced to close. “If fuel is in short
supply,” he continued, “the economic activities of a country are profoundly affected.”
There have also been reports of violence. “[S]trikers [stopped] a depot in Johannesburg
to stop fuel trucks from leaving,” he said, adding, “in the process, journalists and
members of the public were threatened and told to leave the area.” Asked whether the
current system for resolving labour disputes might be in need of reform or replacement,
Simmermacher said, “Well, one would imagine so – how exactly that is going to play
out is difficult to say.”
Listen to Chris Altieri's interview with Gunther
Simmermacher: