The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) will tomorrow, Friday 26 June 2009 at 10:00 embark on a strike action at Garankuwa (Gauteng) based Giflo Engineering (Bop) (Pty) over retrenchments.

Giflo Engineering manufactures automotive components for Low Commercial Vehicles (LCVs), trucks and passenger vehicles. Among others this company is a supplier to Toyota South Africa, Nissan, Nissan Diesel, Ford Motor Company and Man Truck. All these companies will be affected by a cut in components supply due to the strike action.

The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) gave NUMSA and Giflo Engineering until Wednesday 17 June 2009 to resolve the retrenchment dispute in which the company is determined to retrench 83 out of the more than 500 workers without engaging in good faith with the union.

NUMSA has done everything possible to persuade Giflo Engineering not to retrench workers, and to disclose all relevant information required of meaningful information. But Giflo Engineering has since been intransigent.

The union believes that as the last resort a strike action will compel Giflo Engineering to engage meaningfully in a joint consensus-seeking consultation with an aim of finding and implementing alternatives to retrenchments.

As the recession is deepening the household and the community are increasingly burdened by the negative impact of high interest rates, reduced hours of work and retrenchments. NUMSA calls on other employers to be sensitive to this and therefore engage in good faith with unions.

For further information contact Numsa Spokesperson Alex Mashilo: 082 9200 308 & Sekome Tshoga: 083 253 7290 Numsa Roslyn Local Organiser

Issued by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, Johannesburg

Source

Numsa News