South Africa: Numsa to pick over work losses at ArcelorMittal

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:38 pm

South Africa’s National Union of Metalworkers announced in a statement on Sunday evening that it would picket at ArcelorMittal on Monday at several sights of service.

The statement said the picket would take place on Monday morning in which a memorandum of demands would be handed to the union. Picketing will be in Sedibeng, Vanderbijlpak, Vereeniging, Pretoria and at ArcelorMittal.

The members believe they have to turn to this extreme course of action because of the systematic attack that AMSA has launched against workers through the backward management of Kobus Verster ‘s new GCEO, “the statement stated.

The company said it would launch “large-scale restructuring” in June. ArcelorMittal SA already reported 1 000 job cuts in January in a bid to rein in costs, but on Thursday said in a statement that “cost-saving initiatives previously implemented will not be sufficient”.

The statement said union members believed that they have no choice but to resort to protest action and that they will picket peacefully whilst adhering to social distancing regulations.

ArcelorMittal South Africa is part of the ArcelorMittal multinational steel producer and mining company, which employs about 190,000 people worldwide.

(Fin24)