JOHANNESBURG/CAPE TOWN: General Motors suspended production at its main South African plant after a strike hit parts supplies, the US automaker said on Friday, becoming the latest victim of relentless labour unrest in Africa’s most advanced economy.
Violence erupted on some picket lines, as the wage strike by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) dealt a further blow to an economy damaged by a five-month walkout in the platinum industry that only ended last week.
About 2,000 workers affiliated with the National Union of Mineworkers went on strike at Impala Platinum’s IMPJ.J Marula mine on Friday demanding higher wages, in apparent response to the deal secured by rival union AMCU last week.
GM’s suspension of output at its plant in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth showed the escalating impact of the walkout, after NUMSA rejected an increased wage offer from the Steel and Engineering Industry Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA).
“The plant has been shut since yesterday because of the parts supplier issues,” spokeswoman Denise van Huyssteen said.
NUMSA’s more than 200,000 members went on strike on Tuesday, a move employers say will cost the economy more than $28m a day in lost output. SEIFSA said it offered wage increases of up to 10 percent late on Thursday, revised from 8 percent. The union wants hikes of 12 to 15 percent, more than double the inflation rate.
Credit ratings agency Moody’s said this week the labour unrest would consign South Africa to a third consecutive year of sub-par growth and posed risks for its rating. Some automakers said they had not yet been affected. Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp said it was “business as usual” despite the strike. “We still have full production capacity,” spokeswoman Mary Willemse said.
The local unit of Mercedes Benz said it did not expect an immediate impact.
Police on Thursday said officers had fired rubber bullets to disperse workers blocking the entrance to the construction site of state power utility Eskom’s Medupi power station. Reuters
