workers, members of the Construction and Allied Workers Union, held a protest in Cape Town on July 26 as part of a two week campaign for higher pay. Construction work in the city has been severely disrupted. Police and strikers clashed again on July 28. Workers armed themselves with clubs and pipes in response to the presence of heavily armed police.
• 30 striking workers at the Cape Gas factory at Woodstockin Cape Townwere arrested on July 26 when they occupied the premises after chasing out scabs.
•ThousandsofworkersofthePostand Telecommunication Workers Associationtookto the streets of Johannesburg on July 27 to protest what they called Telkom's inability to address workers' grievances. They gathered outside Telkom's Joubert Park offices to hand overamemorandumtomanagement.
Twenty thousand striking car assembly workers took to streets in different parts of the country in late July in support of demands for higher pay and the rapid elimination of race-based wage anomalies.
Disputes are brewing in the tyre industry, in the mines, in the steel and engineering industries, and in the Spar chain of supermarkets.
The car assembly workers, members of the National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA), began a nationwide strike on August 1 for a 12 per cent wage rise and the elimination of apartheid-era wage differentials over the next three years.
The employers, grouped in the Automobile Manufacturers Employers' Organisation (AMEO), refused to increase their offer of 9 per cent and the ending of racist pay scales over four years. The motor industry, South Africa's second largest with an annual turnover of R40 billion, ground to a halt.
Angry
NUMSA members were angered further when AMEO announced on August 9 that the 9 percent offer would be calculated on the average wage of all assembly workers in the industry earn rather than across the board for all workers. This would result in rises of only 5 percent in the largest plants.
NUMSA organiser Gavin Hartford said that 48 per cent of car workers would EN THE BIG BAL SAD, LET THE OLKEMAN JAS H receive below 9 per cent if the employers formula was accepted.
Two thousand vocal Mercedes Benz workers marched on the company's administration offices in East London on August 10. In Pretoria, the voices of 10,000 strikers from the nearby BMW, Nissan and Samcor plants resounded through the streets.
Mass demonstration
On August 11, 7000 workers from the Volkswagen and Delta plants in Port Elizabeth marched through the city and converged on the Midland Chamber of Industries, where negotiations between the union and AMEO resumed on August 9.
On August 8, NUMSA declared a dispute with tyre manufacturers. Eight thousand workers in the Eastern Cape and the PWV are involved. A declaration of a dispute is a legal requirement before workers are entitled to go on strike. NUMSA is demanding a 12 per cent wage increase and the elimination of racist pay scales over the next two years. Employers have offered 7.5-9 per cent and a three year time scale to close the wage gap.
In a separate dispute, CAWU members employed in the Spar chain of supermarkets are also to vote on whether to strike over wages and conditions.
Big business is holding its breath as two major disputes involving hundreds of thousands of workers remain in mediation. NUMSA and the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa (SEIFSA), whose members employ over 280,000 workers, are locked • in talks. NUMSA is demanding a 12 per AND HE SAID. I'M GOING TO ED MOVAL!! : A BULLDOZER ?!
cent rise and SEIFSA is offering 8 per cent. tional Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Chamber of Mines of two disputes. One centres on a 12 per cent wage claim for the NUM's bers, and the other over the chamber's backtracking on an agreement to provide basic education and training to mineworkers. The police entered the industrial arena. On August 9, 229 members of the Chemical Workers Industrial Union were arrested and charged with contempt of court at White River in the Eastern Transvaal. CWIU general secretary Muzi Buthelezi said the workers, from Sakro plastic bag company, were arrested for breaching a court order preventing picketing of the plant. Despite agreeing to police orders Workers armed themselves with clubs and pipes in response to the presence of heavily armed police"
arrested the workers. workers has no end is in sight. 3000 SAC- an expressed willingness tional mand. Mediation continues between the NaLa "principled" stand. 385,000 memand courts have again work sweeping floors. to move one kilometre from the company's gate, police still moved in and The national strike by car assembly The struggle has become a test of strength as the employers steadfastly refuse to offer more than a 10 per cent increase despite by the Naof Metalworkers (NUMSA) to settle with a 10.5 per cent raise. The rejection of this offer led the union to revert to its 12 per cent de- per cent.
NUMSA has vowed that the dispute will continue until its demands are met. The car assembly workers began a their strike on August 1 for a wage rise and the elimination of apartheid-era wage differentials over three years. The Automobile Manufacturers Employers' Or- ballot if talks fail.
THIS ganisation (AMEO) says it needs four years to end racist pay scales.
NUMSA's chief negotiator Gavin Hartford said that AMEO's hardline had nothing to do with affordibility but was "Employers are trying to realign the power relationship within the industry and reassert control". This is underlined by the fact that the 0.5 per cent difference would cost employers R600,000 a year to meet while strike has cost employers around R1.5 billion in lost turnover.
In a blaze of publicity Mercedes Benz and the Delta Motor Corporation announced on August 15 that they were reopening their plants. It offered to pay workers who turned up to work the 10 per cent increase and pay them back pay for the period of the strike.
However, for three consecutive days neither factory was able to start its production line due to lack of workers. Both companies refused to disclose how many workers went to work but said they had been "gainfully employed". NUMSA spokesperson Roger Etkind charged that the handful were put to "Employers have misread the situation if they think they can divide us ... They forget that this strike is the result of a transparent and democratic process culminating in a ballot in which our members voted overwhelmingly to take this action, " Etkind said.
9.5% deal Meanwhile, metal and engineering industry employers and NUMSA reached an agreed to a settlement of 9.5 per cent. The agreement has defused a threatened strike by 280,000 workers. NUMSA had been demanded 12 per cent while employers were offering 8 Talks continue between the National Union of Mineworkers, representing 385,000 miners, and the Chamber of Mines. The NUM has reduced its claim to 11 per cent from 12 per cent, while the Chamber has offered 9.5 percent. The NUM said it will begin a strike TO TS SO HARD I'LL BET THEY DECLARED FAIRY TALE IN EMERGENEY! A STATE COUNTRY.
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No. 68, September 10 1994, Page 12
"Thousands of striking building workers, members of the Construction and Allied Workers Union, held a protest in Cape Town on July 26 as part of a two week campaign for higher pay. Police and strikers clashed again on July 28.