Automotive industry workers in South Africa have reached a compromise with their employers, ending a one-month strike that has reduced output to levels not seen for decades.
Under the new agreement, workers involved in the National Union of Metalworkers will receive a 10 per cent increase in compensation this year, with an 8 per cent rise following for the next two years.
The union is one of the largest in South Africa’s automotive industry, with a variety of workers involved in the construction and development of car components taking to the streets for over a month in order to secure their pay rise.
The strike followed smaller protests by employees of BMW, Ford, General Motors, and Nissan, who demonstrated separately in order to secure an increase in pay for the next three years.
The strike cost manufacturers an estimated £1.24 billion in output. BMW claims that the industrial action stopped all of its future plans to expand in South Africa, hurting the country’s automotive industry as a whole.
BMW South Africa managing director Bobo Donauer claims that the industrial action stopped the company from producing over 11,000 cars that were scheduled during the strike.
The company’s plans to end expansion in South Africa have been called ‘blackmail’ by industrial organisers, including Irvin Jim, the National Union of Metalworkers in South Africa’s general secretary.
BMW’s plan to limit expansion in South Africa indicates that the strike may hurt the industry more than many analysts have predicted. Mr Jim noted that the strike ‘was very hard’ for the union – an opinion shared by many economists.
Between 30,000 and 40,000 people are believed to have been involved in the strike, which ended production for over one month. The car companies gave workers large pay rises of up to 11.5 per cent depending on their job title and involvement
