South Africa’s Metal Worker Strike Continues

A two week-old strike by South Africa’s metal workers is beginning to take its toll on manufacturing.

Japanese car maker Toyota will halt production at its Durban assembly plant from Tuesday as the supply of components dries up.

Ford and General Motors have already suspended some operations.

Workers in the engineering and steel industries have been calling for pay rises of up to 15%, which employers say they cannot afford.

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) has rejected the latest offer by the employers’ organisation to raise pay by 10% this year, 9.5% in 2015 and 9% the following year. Union leaders plan to meet on Tuesday to discuss intensifying the strike action.

The strike is targeted at the steel and engineering sector, which makes products for industries such as mines, automotives and telecoms.

via BBC

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza