Commenting on the imminent strike action by Transport Unions at Transnet and Portnet operations with effect from 10th May, 2010 – the President of the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA) – Mr David Powels – said that any industrial action at South Africa’s ports and rail infrastructure would be extremely damaging to the automotive and associated industries in South Africa.
Vehicle manufacturers’ operations were heavily reliant on in-bound and out-bound logistics and a continuous flow of production parts and finished goods. Strike action would close all the assembly plants within a matter of days with a massive cascade effect throughout the entire automotive value chain in South Africa.
The strike action would compromise the current recovery in the industry which was emerging from the disproportionately severe three and a half year recession in domestic sales compounded last year by the impact of the global economic crisis. The industry’s production and export operations would be affected and this would send extremely negative messages internationally about South Africa’s competitiveness and would portray South Africa as an unreliable supplier of automotive products. The associated loss of income could also prejudice industry employment levels which had shown signs of good recovery during the first quarter of 2010.
Mr Powels also expressed concern about the increasingly volatile industrial relations environment generally in South Africa. The high level of strike action and industrial disputes would unfortunately deter much needed foreign direct investment in productive capacity in the South African economy. International capital flowed to economies with a stable industrial relations climate, with high levels of productivity and a strong work ethic. South Africa was increasingly failing in this area.
The impending industrial action was counter productive and would do nothing to promote employment creation and decent jobs in the domestic economy and the automotive industry.
Whilst NAAMSA respected the right of workers to pursue their legitimate interests in terms of labour legislation, Mr Powels emphasised that, in the interests of the country as a whole, the parties to the Transnet dispute should do everything possible to resolve, through negotiations, pay and labour issues. It was imperative that all parties should avoid the extremely negative direct and indirect consequences of full scale strike action.
NAAMSA OFFICES : PRETORIA
5TH MAY, 2010
