South Africa: Labor minister to meet with striking workers

South African Workers at vehicle assembly plant. PHOTO/Volkswagen South Africa

South Africa’s labor minister will meet with striking metalworkers and industry employers on Friday in an attempt to end a labor dispute, a spokesman for the minister said.

“We want the strike to end and are quite hopeful that an agreement can be reached soon,” Mokgadi Pela told reporters.

Japanese automaker Toyota said on Friday it was “business as usual” despite a strike that has hit the supply of components to the local industry, forcing General Motors to suspend output at its main plant in the country.

“We still have full production capacity,” Toyota spokeswoman Mary Willemse told reporters.

More that 200,000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) went on strike on Tuesday, an action that employers say will cost the economy more than US$28 million a day in lost output.

The employer group has said it offered wage increases of up to 10 percent late on Thursday, revised from 8 percent previously. The union wants hikes of 12 to 15 percent, more than double the inflation rate.

Source: Reuters