FOR six weeks, Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA) was unable to produce a single vehicle as nationwide strikes paralysed the manufacturing industry.
Losses of about R700-million a day were recorded, sparking fears that thousands of East London families could lose their livelihoods if MBSA pulled out of East London.
At stake were 2000 MBSA employees plus thousands more working in supplier companies such as SMA Engineering, Feltex, Johnson Controls, Lear Corporation, Faurecia and Foxtech-Ikhwezi, among others.
MBSA’s presence in the East London economy is massive.
Apart from extending to automotive suppliers, it also pays large amounts to Buffalo City Metro and other companies which have MBSA as a customer.
Last Wednesday, the MBSA plant was a picture of desolation, its assembly line eerily quiet as it had been since August 19 when a strike by 30000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa hit car manufacturers followed by a component suppliers’ strike that ended yesterday.
MBSA said it was still committed to East London and still planned to produce its W205 Mercedes-Benz C-class in the city.
The company’s vice-president for manufacturing, Arno van der Merwe, said: “Currently our focus is on coping with the situation where six weeks of strikes have placed a significant strain on our ability to uphold production planning for the C-class in 2013.
“We expect to roll out an aggressive plan to recover units lost due to this strike in the course of the next weeks and months, fully using all available options to flexibly adapt our day-to-day operations.”
He added that MBSA was optimistic it would be able to overcome the “challenging situation with the support of the workforce with whom we have built a solid working relationship over the past few decades”.
Numsa Eastern Cape spokesman Phumzile Nodongwe said the union was aware of the threat that companies might move out of the country.
“It is not to our liking to see that happening, hence we are asking our members to go back to work,” said Nodongwe.
He said components companies supporting assembly plants could move to neighbouring countries.
“They might move to Botswana and that is worrying to us because many of our people will suffer. It’s not an easy thing,” said Nodongwe.
He also said the blame needed to be put on companies who delayed the negotiation processes.
“Our people will be retrenched if these companies move.” — siyam@dispatch.co.za / bonganif@dispatch.co.za
Job fears rise as six-week strike paralyses MBSA
Losses of about R700-million a day were recorded, sparking fears that thousands of East London families could lose their livelihoods if MBSA pulled out of East London.
At stake were 2000 MBSA employees plus thousands more working in supplier companies such as SMA Engineering, Feltex, Johnson Controls, Lear Corporation, Faurecia and Foxtech-Ikhwezi, among others.
MBSA’s presence in the East London economy is massive.
Apart from extending to automotive suppliers, it also pays large amounts to Buffalo City Metro and other companies which have MBSA as a customer.
Last Wednesday, the MBSA plant was a picture of desolation, its assembly line eerily quiet as it had been since August 19 when a strike by 30000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa hit car manufacturers followed by a component suppliers’ strike that ended yesterday.
MBSA said it was still committed to East London and still planned to produce its W205 Mercedes-Benz C-class in the city.
The company’s vice-president for manufacturing, Arno van der Merwe, said: “Currently our focus is on coping with the situation where six weeks of strikes have placed a significant strain on our ability to uphold production planning for the C-class in 2013.
“We expect to roll out an aggressive plan to recover units lost due to this strike in the course of the next weeks and months, fully using all available options to flexibly adapt our day-to-day operations.”
He added that MBSA was optimistic it would be able to overcome the “challenging situation with the support of the workforce with whom we have built a solid working relationship over the past few decades”.
Numsa Eastern Cape spokesman Phumzile Nodongwe said the union was aware of the threat that companies might move out of the country.
“It is not to our liking to see that happening, hence we are asking our members to go back to work,” said Nodongwe.
He said components companies supporting assembly plants could move to neighbouring countries.
“They might move to Botswana and that is worrying to us because many of our people will suffer. It’s not an easy thing,” said Nodongwe.
He also said the blame needed to be put on companies who delayed the negotiation processes.
“Our people will be retrenched if these companies move.” — siyam@dispatch.co.za / bonganif@dispatch.co.za
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