Strikes continue in South Africa

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: