Suffering a loss of real incomes over the last five years, members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) picketed the corporate office of South Africa's largest defense industry, demanding wage hike and reinstatement of benefits.
Workers of Denel, South Africa's largest manufacturer of defense equipment, picketed its corporate office in the town of Centurion on Thursday, October 24, demanding a wage hike of 15% wage.
Members of NUMSA at Denel headquarters in Centurion are demanding a 15% salary increase because they have received only two salary increases in the last five years.Workers have suffered severely cos of destructive cost cutting by govt and bosses!#NUMSAEverywhere❤️🖤💛 pic.twitter.com/xfdNlPXtaz-- NUMSA (@Numsa_Media) October 24, 2024
Except for an "insignificant" 4% increase last November, workers have had no wage hikes for the last five years, even as the cost of the household food basket went up by almost 68% in this period, from R3,184.63 in October 2019 to R5,348.65 in October 2024.
Consequently, their "real wages have seen a dramatic decline," complained Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, spokesperson of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), which led this action.
Its members also demand the reinstatement of the inconvenience allowance of R5000 for workers relocated to different cities and the immediate restart of contribution to the pension fund by Denel Vehicle Systems (DVS).
"These are all benefits that workers lost during the radical restructuring that the Department of Public Enterprise imposed during the COVID-19 lockdown," reducing the workforce to 1,600 from 3,000 in 2019, Hlubi Majola told Peoples Dispatch.
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Drained by corrupt contracts and mismanagement, Denel plunged into a liquidity crisis in 2019, reportedly arriving at the "brink of collapse" by 2021.
Drawing parallels to the crisis in South African Airways (SAA) and the electricity producer Eskom, NUMSA's Deputy General Secretary Mbuso Ngubane told workers on the picket line that the government is "deliberately destroying" State-Owned Entities (SOEs) to convince the public that their privatization is the only way forward.
The NUMSA Deputy General Secretary Mbuso Ngubane is addressing workers at Denel who are picketing against destructive cost cutting policies of the ANC and now the GNU. He explains how former minister #PravinGordhan collapsed Denel on behalf of the ANC#NUMSAEveryday ❤️🖤💛 pic.twitter.com/5NndA0SDC1-- NUMSA (@Numsa_Media) October 24, 2024
Demanding a "contingency plan" from the Defense Ministry to sustain the company, NUMSA's memorandum said, "Management brought Denel to the point of collapse and therefore management" and not the workers "must suffer the consequences of their failures."
"We reject the 'Acting' positions and we reject long suspensions of Officials with full pay," it added, calling for "a skills audit of all project managers and operations managers."
Accepting the memorandum, Denel's management said it "reiterates its commitment to maintain good relations with labor unions that represent employees of the company. The Board and Management continues to work to stabilize the financial position... Management will continue to engage with all stakeholders."
