Latest news with #NUMSA
IOL News
02-07-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Gautrain shutdown looms as NUMSA secures strike certificate
Gautrain services could soon grind to a halt Image: Supplied Gautrain services could soon grind to a halt after the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) was granted a certificate to strike by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). This comes after the collapse of wage negotiations with the Bombela Operating Company (BOC), which manages operations of the high-speed rail service. According to a statement issued to the media by the union's national spokesperson on Wednesday, Phakamile Hlubi-Majola stated: "Wage negotiations deadlocked on the 9th of June 2025 and NUMSA filed a dispute with the CCMA, which was heard yesterday. Unfortunately, parties were still unable to find one another due to the arrogance of the Bombela Operating Company (BOC) management, which has resulted in a certificate to strike being issued." Some of the key demands from the workers include a 7% across-the-board wage increase, an increase in the housing allowance from R1,300 to R1,600, a rise in the transport allowance from R125 to R150, an increase in the night shift allowance from R38 to R50 per hour, and a boost in the KPI bonus from R9,600 to R15,000. Hlubi-Majola stated that the Bombela Operating Company (BOC) has failed to present a meaningful offer, instead proposing a mere 4.2% wage increase, which the workers have categorically rejected. 'Unfortunately, the CCMA facilitation by a senior commissioner did not yield any positive results,' she said. The union highlighted the rising cost of living as an additional pressure, saying that workers have no choice but to take to the streets. "This week, electricity went up by 12.5%, and the fuel tariffs have just been adjusted up. This has a negative impact on the price of goods because it means that goods and consumables are more expensive. "NUMSA further calls on the Gautrain Management Authority and the Gauteng provincial government to intervene and apply pressure on the BOC management to come to the party and put a meaningful offer on the table for our members to consider." IOL Business Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel
News24
24-06-2025
- Automotive
- News24
Crisis-hit SA car makers now face 10% wage hike demands
• For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page. A potential deadlock over pay increases for South Africa's automotive sector workers risks shutting down an industry that accounts for more than a fifth of the nation's manufacturing output, weighing on an already moribund economy. The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, the country's largest labour group, is demanding employers including BMW South Africa and the local units of Toyota and Ford give workers 10% raises ahead of talks that will agree wages for the next three years. While that's more than three times the annual inflation rate, it's the union's lowest initial ask in at least four negotiation cycles and comes as several headwinds threaten the long-term viability of manufacturing vehicles and components locally. They include: Heightened global uncertainty due to fears of a wider war in the Middle East and higher US tariffs; South Africa's potential exclusion from a trade deal that gives African nations preferential access to the world's biggest economy; a shift to electric vehicles in key export markets; and a flood of cheap imports. South Africa is the world's most unequal country and its economy has barely grown over the past decade. Still, the automotive sector remains a key driver of output, accounting for about 5% of gross domestic production. Averting a fourth-consecutive deadlock in pay talks and a potential strike by more than 100 000 workers is seen as key for the survival of an industry that has long been hobbled by electricity-supply constraints and logistics challenges. 'The economy isn't performing well and a flat 10% increase along with some of the other challenges will negatively impact the performance of businesses,' said Siyabonga Mthembu, a partner at BDO South Africa. 'International companies operating in South Africa's automotive sector are particularly at risk and will have to consider survival strategies such as market diversification. Sometimes, looking at pay in isolation of other factors at play can be very dangerous and I think all the parties need to sit around a table and understand the entire ecosystem.' Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, Numsa's spokesperson, has said that asking for an inflation-linked increase is 'unrealistic' because its members are struggling to survive. Representatives for employers associations declined to comment as formal wage negotiations have yet to begin. Battery production A sluggish economy has also driven a shift in the new vehicle market, with consumers increasingly buying imported vehicles. Almost 62% of light vehicles purchased in South Africa last year sold for less than R500 000, according to Paulina Mamogobo, the chief economist at Naamsa, The Automotive Business Council. Industry association data show global trade wars are also weighing on exports, which account for about two thirds of vehicles produced in South Africa. While higher tariffs imposed by the US on imported vehicles and components only took effect in April, shipments to North America had already declined 73.2% year-on-year in the three months through March. Given changes in the operating environment, key players in the industry have asked the government to bring forward a review of its production-incentive programme and so-called industry master plan to 2025, Mamogobo said. Naamsa is already working with its members on potential evidence-based solutions to address the challenges they are facing, he added. Lesego Moshikaro-Amani, a senior economist at Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies urged the government to consider adopting policies that promote local battery production for electric vehicles, mineral processing and refining for the automotive industry and measures to 'aggressively attract new manufacturers.' Local manufacturers could also benefit from producing more affordable vehicles, including two and three wheelers, for export into Africa, she said.
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
South African Auto Firms Bracing for Tariffs Face Pay-Talks Test
(Bloomberg) -- A potential deadlock over pay increases for South Africa's automotive sector workers risks shutting down an industry that accounts for more than a fifth of the nation's manufacturing output, weighing on an already moribund economy. Bezos Wedding Draws Protests, Soul-Searching Over Tourism in Venice US State Budget Wounds Intensify From Trump, DOGE Policy Shifts 'We Were Failed': Johannesburg Transit Access Remains Scant for Commuters The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, the country's largest labor group, is demanding employers including BMW South Africa Pty Ltd. and the local units of Toyota Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co. give workers 10% raises ahead of talks that will agree wages for the next three years. While that's more than three times the annual inflation rate, it's the union's lowest initial ask in at least four negotiation cycles and comes as several headwinds threaten the long-term viability of manufacturing vehicles and components locally. They include: Heightened global uncertainty due to fears of a wider war in the Middle East and higher US tariffs; South Africa's potential exclusion from a trade deal that gives African nations preferential access to the world's biggest economy; a shift to electric vehicles in key export markets; and a flood of cheap imports. South Africa is the world's most unequal country and its economy has barely grown over the past decade. Still, the automotive sector remains a key driver of output, accounting for about 5% of gross domestic production. Averting a fourth-consecutive deadlock in pay talks and a potential strike by more than 100,000 workers is seen as key for the survival of an industry that has long been hobbled by electricity-supply constraints and logistics challenges. 'The economy isn't performing well and a flat 10% increase along with some of the other challenges will negatively impact the performance of businesses,' said Siyabonga Mthembu, a partner at BDO South Africa. 'International companies operating in South Africa's automotive sector are particularly at risk and will have to consider survival strategies such as market diversification. Sometimes, looking at pay in isolation of other factors at play can be very dangerous and I think all the parties need to sit around a table and understand the entire ecosystem.' Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, Numsa's spokesperson, has said that asking for an inflation-linked increase is 'unrealistic' because its members are struggling to survive. Representatives for employers associations declined to comment as formal wage negotiations have yet to begin. Price-Sensitive Buyers A sluggish economy has also driven a shift in the new vehicle market, with consumers increasingly buying imported vehicles. Almost 62% of light vehicles purchased in South Africa last year sold for less than 500,000 rand ($27,588), according to Paulina Mamogobo, the chief economist at Naamsa, The Automotive Business Council. Industry association data show global trade wars are also weighing on exports, which account for about two thirds of vehicles produced in South Africa. While higher tariffs imposed by the US on imported vehicles and components only took effect in April, shipments to North America had already declined 73.2% year-on-year in the three months through March. Given changes in the operating environment, key players in the industry have asked the government to bring forward a review of its production-incentive program and so-called industry master plan to 2025, Mamogobo said. Naamsa is already working with its members on potential evidence-based solutions to address the challenges they are facing, he added. Lesego Moshikaro-Amani, a senior economist at Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies urged the government to consider adopting policies that promote local battery production for electric vehicles, mineral processing and refining for the automotive industry and measures to 'aggressively attract new manufacturers.' Local manufacturers could also benefit from producing more affordable vehicles, including two and three wheelers, for export into Africa, she said. --With assistance from Zinhle Xaba. Luxury Counterfeiters Keep Outsmarting the Makers of $10,000 Handbags Is Mark Cuban the Loudmouth Billionaire that Democrats Need for 2028? Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros Can 'MAMUWT' Be to Musk What 'TACO' Is to Trump? The US Has More Copper Than China But No Way to Refine All of It ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Erreur lors de la récupération des données Connectez-vous pour accéder à votre portefeuille Erreur lors de la récupération des données Erreur lors de la récupération des données Erreur lors de la récupération des données Erreur lors de la récupération des données
Bloomberg
24-06-2025
- Automotive
- Bloomberg
South African Auto Firms Bracing for Tariffs Face Pay-Talks Test
A potential deadlock over pay increases for South Africa's automotive sector workers risks shutting down an industry that accounts for more than a fifth of the nation's manufacturing output, weighing on an already moribund economy. The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, the country's largest labor group, is demanding employers including BMW South Africa Pty Ltd. and the local units of Toyota Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co. give workers 10% raises ahead of talks that will agree wages for the next three years.
IOL News
16-06-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Organise or Starve: Youth Mobilisation Key to Overcoming Poverty, Unemployment and Inequality
Members of the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA) marched through the streets of Durban, March 19, 2014 to highlight youth unemployment in the country. Image: Independent Media Archives Mbuso Ngubane This Youth Day, we must speak the truth without the varnish of liberal sentiment. The truth is this: South African youth are under siege. They are not free. They live under the dictatorship of hunger, unemployment, crime, and hopelessness. This is not a democracy for the working class. It is a capitalist nightmare, run by the same comprador elite who inherited the whip from the apartheid bosses, and now wield it in the name of profit. The Young Lions of 1976 rose against Bantu Education and the racist capitalist state. They had no illusions. They understood that the struggle for education could not be separated from the fight for freedom and dignity. Today, our youth face a different, but no less brutal enemy: neoliberalism, austerity, and a corrupt ruling class that has sold out the dreams of liberation. We must remember that the youth who marched in Soweto in 1976 were not just reacting to Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. They were rejecting a system designed to make them hewers of wood and drawers of water — cheap labour for white capital. The apartheid bosses, like the ANC's current neo-liberal government, feared nothing more than a politically educated and organised youth. Steve Biko said, 'The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.' That is why we must centre political education. Without it, the youth are led like lambs into the slaughterhouse of TikTok distraction, and fake entrepreneurship, and are dying for sneakers and status. The revolution must begin in the mind, and move into action. The youth of today must not be reduced to hashtags and handouts. You must organise. You must take power into your own hands. The capitalist system has nothing to offer you but casualised labour, surveillance, poverty, and mental collapse. The gig economy is not freedom — it is wage slavery without the dignity of a contract. We must return to the principle Lenin taught us: "Without revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement." That means building youth structures rooted in class struggle. NUMSA's youth structures are not built on empty slogans but on political education, shop-floor militancy, and international solidarity. We must build unity among the unemployed, the precarious, the students, and the exploited. In Cuba, the youth were not bystanders in the revolution. Fidel Castro and Che Guevara were in their twenties when they picked up arms and overthrew the U.S.-backed Batista regime. Today, because of that struggle, Cuban youth have universal education, healthcare, and a future not dictated by private profit. Video Player is loading. 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Next Stay Close ✕ In Burkina Faso, the revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara placed young people at the heart of nation-building. He trained them in agro-ecology, literacy, and defence. He built schools and clinics. He fought against corruption, privilege, and the domination of international finance. He said: 'While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas.' And today, in the same country, young Captain Ibrahim Traoré has become a symbol of defiance against the old order. Whether his government can remain on a revolutionary path is not guaranteed. But what is clear is this: young people in Burkina Faso have rejected the old elite and are demanding that their country serve the people, not foreign powers. It is a lesson for us here. We too must reject leaders who have long passed their sell-by date, men who cling to office while the country burns; men who were once comrades and have become tyrants. The revolution must be renewed by the youth or it will rot in the hands of the old. Even in the belly of the beast, in the United States, we have seen young people rise. From the Black Panthers to today's movements like Black Lives Matter, young people have resisted imperialism and racial capitalism. However, we must also be clear: without structure and class analysis, movements can be co-opted and destroyed. In South Africa, the reality is stark. Youth unemployment sits above 60% for those under 25. But the capitalist state has no solution. The ANC government implements budget cuts, not jobs. They militarise communities instead of building schools. They worship private capital and destroy public institutions. The solution is not individual hustle, nor is it waiting for handouts from ministers living in luxury. The solution is organisation. We must build revolutionary youth brigades, trained in Marxist theory, linked to working-class struggles and rooted in the community. We must revive the spirit of the Young Communist League, of COSAS in its militant days, and of youth who linked their liberation to the overthrow of capitalism. Youth must return to the factory gates, to community halls, to classrooms and campuses with one message: We are not commodities. We will not be sacrificed so that the rich can live in Sandton while we rot in townships.
