Mailing seeking solidarity messages to striking metalworkers. The mailing says the Labor Committee has received an urgent message from striking metalworkers in South Africa; beginning August 4, thirty-one thousand workers at over 180 factories in the metal industry in South Africa struck when contract negotiations broke down with SEIFSA, the national employers federation in the metal industry. The mailing says the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa is demanding a 23% wage increase. But employers are only offering 14% to 18%; the strike is strongest in the Johannesburg area, but has spread to workplaces in Natal, Port Elizabeth and Pretoria; though worker's actions have won individual...
Mailing seeking solidarity messages to striking metalworkers. The mailing says the Labor Committee has received an urgent message from striking metalworkers in South Africa; beginning August 4, thirty-one thousand workers at over 180 factories in the metal industry in South Africa struck when contract negotiations broke down with SEIFSA, the national employers federation in the metal industry. The mailing says the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa is demanding a 23% wage increase. But employers are only offering 14% to 18%; the strike is strongest in the Johannesburg area, but has spread to workplaces in Natal, Port Elizabeth and Pretoria; though worker's actions have won individual settlements above the SEIFSA offer from a number of companies, some of the larger companies such as Dorbyl and Vetsak have reacted harshly; Vetsak managers fired one thousand workers and hundreds of others have been dismissed at other plants; the British multinational company Doughty locked out striking workers for singing. The mailing says the strike has received virtually no press attention in the United States; YOUR EFFORTS ARE URGENTLY NEEDED TO SPREAD THE WORD AND ENCOURAGE U.S. UNIONS TO SEND MESSAGES OF SUPPORT TO NUMSA.
