General Motors and BMW have suspended production in their plants in South Africa, as on 1 July over 220,000 metalworkers of the country went on strike, reports Bloomberg.
GM’s plant in Port Elizabeth has been shut as “the strike in the metal and engineering sector has impacted upon supply of components to our production line,” said company spokesperson Gishma Johnson.
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BMW’s stopped production at its plant outside Pretoria on 1 July. The company plans to reopen the factory on 8 July. If the strike continues, it will operate only two shifts instead of the regular three shifts. This would lead to a loss in production of 120 vehicles per day.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) is seeking a 12% hike in pay and a ban on labour brokers, while the employer group, Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) has offered to increase the wage of the lowest-paid workers by 10%.
Director of the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa Nico Vermeulen said, “If the strike goes beyond two weeks, the risks to vehicle manufacturers and production plants will increase substantially.”
