Largest labor union in South Africa calling for a 1 day work stoppage on March 19

South Africa’s biggest union has called a one-day work stoppage for Wednesday to highlight youth unemployment in the country, the union said.

The 340,000-member National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) draws its members from car manufacturing, the metal industry, transport and general workers.

The stoppage would be the latest in a string of labor unrest in Africa’s largest economy, weeks before the May 7 general elections.

“It is a stoppage that members in all other unions can join. We think half a million workers will take part,” Karl Cloete, deputy general secretary of NUMSA, told reporters on Sunday.

In December, NUMSA, the biggest bloc in the COSATU labor grouping, said it would not support the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in the election. Many South Africans are disgruntled by the slow pace at which the ANC led by President Jacob Zuma is rolling back poverty 2 decades after the end of apartheid.

Industrial action over wages in the platinum sector has been going on for nearly 2 months and has cost employees more than 3.8 billion rand (US$356 million) in lost earnings. The stoppage has cost mining companies 8.6 billion rand (US$806 million) in revenue so far, according to a tally updated almost every second on the Chamber of Mines’ website.