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South African Engineering And Metal Workers Strike Over Pay

South African Engineering And Metal Workers Strike Over Pay

Almost a quarter-million members of South Africa’s largest union went on strike July 1 for more pay, beginning an indefinite strike that threatens to halt the country’s engineering industry, AFP reports.

Engineering and metal workers are asking for a 15-percent wage increase — an added blow to an the economy still reeling from a record-breaking platinum mine workers’ strike, according to Reuters.

Members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), the country’s largest union, marched in major cities, according to this AFP video. Leaders withdrew an earlier 12-percent demand for wage increases saying employers failed to respond positively, NUMSA spokesman Castro Ngobese said in the Reuters report.

South Africa’s five-month platinum strike, which ended last week, contributed to a first-quarter economic contraction, the report said.

Steel and metals manufacturing account for 20 percent of the factory sector. The economic impact of NUMSA’s strike will hurt more than the platinum strike, Barclays Africa said, according to Reuters.