South Africa’s motor manufacturers failed to reach a wage agreement with the industry’s labour union, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, it said in a statement late on Thursday.
A strike in the industry would heap pressure on South Africa-based auto manufacturers, which include Ford, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Volkswagen.
They face steep tariffs on exports to the US, as well as shrinking market share in the face of an onslaught of cheap imported cars from India and China.
Convened every three years to negotiate wage and benefits in the auto sector, the Automobile Manufacturers Employers Association said it had tabled a “full and final settlement offer to Numsa.”
Speaking to Business Day, a Johannesburg newspaper, Numsa said it had declined the offer and that a certificate of non-resolution would be issued, a process that could lead to a strike in an industry that contributes 5% of the nation’s GDP, according to AMEO.
Numsa, on behalf of its 400,000 members, is demanding a R20,000 gratuity, a larger contribution to healthcare for workers and three annual wage increases of 9%, 8% and 8%. AMEO, for its part, has offered an “economically responsible” 7% annual wage increase.
Consumer prices rose 3.4% year-on-year in September, according to Statistics South Africa.
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