Strike looms at Scaw Metals

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) says it  has been left with no choice but to mobilise workers for strike action that will resume on Monday.  The strike is expected to affect all Scaw plants.

Among other things, the union will be striking against ” varying down benefits and conditions of employees ”  it said in a statement issued on Friday.

“Last year in December 2019 the number one ruthless employer in the steel manufacturing sector, at one of its plants, McKinnon Chain in Sedibeng, resolved to cut workers’ wages by 13%. When workers rejected this decision on the basis that it would result in destroying their livelihoods and their very existence, this employer decided to forcefully retrench them and refused even to pay them a severance package, which was due to workers to the value of no less than R4 million. Approximately 190 employees lost their jobs through retrenchment.”

Numsa also accuses Scaw of unlawfully terminating workers’ contractual rights.

Below is the full statement on the planned strike:

Source: SABC News (sabcnews.com)