DISGRUNTLED employees of home-grown heavy machinery manufacturer, Bell Equipment will not be allowed to enter the company’s headquarters in Richards Bay while they strike for wage increases.
As advised by the Steel and Engineering Federation of South Africa (Seifsa), which represents Bell and other employers in the sector, more than 355 000 union members in the steel and engineering industry have been banned from their work-sites nationwide since downing tools on Tuesday.
Local union members of National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (Numsa) and United Association of South Africa (UASA) joined the provincial march in Durban on Tuesday, but returned to protest in different areas of Alton on today.
Bell Equipment management said the company prepared detailed security and safety measures to protect non-striking and striking employees.
They also consulted with shop stewards from the respective unions regarding picketing guidelines.
However, despite all the company’s efforts to keep the peace, Bell Equipment Managing Director, Leon Goosen said the protest comes as a hard blow for the industry.
‘This strike action comes at an unfortunate time for Bell, with the current weak economic climate and a resultant slowdown in business activity and low production levels we are experiencing,’ said Goosen.
‘We would like to see an agreement reached sooner rather than later as a loss in production will further impact our financial results.
‘We are a large decent job creator, providing opportunities locally and the impact of a prolonged strike will certainly ultimately have a negative impact on the local area as well.’
Unions and company representatives started wage discussions in March, however, the parties failed to reach consensus with negotiations falling into deadlock last month.
Economy exhausted
The nationwide stoppage is expected to have a detrimental impact on the economy so soon after a five-month long platinum strike hit the country’s mining output.
Goosen also believes the strike could chase valued customers into the arms of international competitors.
‘If we are unable to produce machines for the market, our customers will buy from elsewhere, and as we are the only significant South African manufacturer of earthmoving equipment, the only benefit of the strike will be additional business for foreign equipment manufacturers.
‘This is not good for our country and goes directly against the industrialisation objectives of government, which we support.’
