Iron ore majors ramp up supply even as China faces challenges
Iron ore is one of the year’s worst performing major commodities, slumping by almost a quarter as China’s property crisis drags on.
The work stoppage began only a week after the end of a five-month strike in the platinum sector.
South Africa’s engineering and metalworkers rejected Sunday a 10% pay offer from employers, calling on its 220,000 striking members in the sector to intensify a two-week-long strike action.
Irvin Jim, the general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers in South Africa (NUMSA), said its members rejected the latest offer because it didn’t include a double-digit wage increase for all three years, Wall Street Journal reported.
In a media briefing Sunday, Jim added the country’s biggest trade union members would continue with indefinite strike action.
“Should the employers continue with their reckless shenanigans and unreasonable demands, we might be left with no option but to call for targeted solidarity in all our sectors. This is seriously under consideration,” the NUM leader said.
The work stoppage, which began only a week after the end of a strike in the platinum sector, is affecting about 12,000 employers including Nampak, Africa’s biggest can manufacturer, and carmakers such as General Motors Co. (NYSE:GE), BMW AG (FRA:BMW) and Evraz Highveld Steel (JSE:EHS).
It has also damaged wider investor sentiment in the country’s economy, which is teetering on the brink of recession after a five-month strike in the platinum mining industry.
The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa (SAIFSA) estimates that it is costing the South African economy about $30 million a day.
The strike has also affected thousands of other companies across the manufacturing sector.
Image courtesy of NUMSA.
4 Comments
miket
South Africa ? Dump it and run !
Gary
In a few more years time there wont be anything more to strike about as most of the large businesses would have pulled out. Demanding higher wages with little or no increase in production shoud do it
Oh what now??
Yup then the country can return to the days when the settlers landed on this continent and used ox wagons and had no infrastructure. On the upside there won’t be a useless government wasting all the tax as there won’t be any tax to be collected.
Rayban
USA has had it share of these same things . Worked out poorly in the long run . Was not the complete end of the world , only a worsing .