ANA reports that according to the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), workers in the automotive components sector are disgruntled over the failure of employers to offer “equal work for equal pay” and recognise them as key stakeholders.
Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim told a panel discussion at the National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers of SA industry show in Durban that workers did not want to be “merely consulted” in the drafting and implementing of new plans to guide the automotive industry. He told delegates: “Workers in the component sector are very angry. Workers in this industry must have a stake in the ownership of all automotive companies.” His comments come ahead of sector wage talks and amid heightened political expectations ahead of the May general elections. The Automotive Production and Development Programme ends next year and a new SA Automotive Masterplan will come into effect, aiming to increase the local content of SA-built cars to 60% by value from the current 37.4%. Jim welcomed the masterplan as a “major step forward”, but questioned why past policy frameworks that included “in excess of R300 billion of incentives” had not “transformed the auto industry and created jobs”. He claimed subsidies had mainly benefited the country’s big automakers and he urged the government to intervene.
- Read the full original of the report on the above at The Citizen
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page