GM, Toyota Boost South African Wages 10% to End Strike

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-08-20/gm-toyota-boost-south-african-wages-to-end-strike.html

August 20, 2010, 10:46 AM EDT

(Updates with employers’ comment in fourth paragraph.)

Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and competing carmakers in South Africa agreed to raise workers’ pay by 10 percent in 2010, ending an eight-day strike.

Wages will be increased by another 9 percent in 2011 and 2012, the Pretoria-based Automobile Manufacturers Employers Organization said today in a statement. Workers will return to their jobs on Aug. 23, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa said in a separate release.

The union, representing 31,000 employees in South Africa’s car industry, began the strike on Aug. 11. The seven-member automakers group estimated the walkout caused a production loss of about 17,000 cars. The union, known as Numsa, sought a 15 percent raise, more than double the 7 percent the employers offered. South Africa’s inflation rate was 4.2 percent in June.

“It’s become a trend, not necessarily a good one from an economic point of view, for settlements in the double-digit region, and that’s way above inflation,” Chris Thexton, chairman of the employers’ group, said in a phone interview from Port Elizabeth. “There’s a high premium in this contract. It allows for the industry to get back up and running.”

Transnet Agreement

Transnet Ltd., the state-owned operator of freight trains, ports and pipelines, gave workers an 11 percent increase in May to end an 18-day strike that crippled exports.

Numsa said earlier today that workers at gasoline stations, car-part makers and tire manufacturers may strike after wage talks collapsed. The union wants a 15 percent raise, while employers represented by the Retailers Motor Industry Organization and Fuel Retailers Association have offered a minimum of 6.6 percent.

FULL story at link.