World Cup construction workers strike in SA

JOHANNESBURG – South African construction workers went on an indefinite strike yesterday at stadiums being built for the 2010 World Cup – a move that could derail Africa’s historic first World Cup tournament.

About 70 000 workers at stadiums across the country downed tools after wage negotiations deadlocked earlier this week. Workers are demanding a 13 per cent pay increase while employers are only offering a 10.4 per cent rise.
The strike could delay completion of flagship projects such as the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg, the Green Point stadium in Cape Town and the Moses Mobhida stadium in Durban.
Stadiums need to be completed by December to meet deadlines set by the world soccer body Fifa before the tournament kicks off in June 2010.
Lesiba Seshoka of the National Union of Mineworkers, which represents construction workers, said the strike would continue until employers met their demands.
The unions have complained that some workers are earning about N$12 an hour and others U$40 a week. Workers in South Africa are supposed to earn a minimum wage of about N$1 600 a month.
‘It is a very sad situation in which people think workers must be sacrificial lambs because there is a recession, whilst that recession also affects our members more,’ union negotiator Bhekani Ngcobo said in a statement.
The workers have been criticised for jeopardizing South Africa’s chances of hosting a successful World Cup.
But the Congress of South African Trade Unions, which represents the country’s largest trade union federations, has come out in support of the construction workers and says the dispute is not targeted at the World Cup.
– Nampa-AP