Union strike to affect stadiums
FIFA says confident hosts will meet commitments
South Africa's biggest union said yesterday 50,000 construction workers would launch a strike over pay from next week, halting work across the economy including on stadiums for the 2010 World Cup.
A prolonged strike, as employers negotiate with unions over wages, could cause the partial shut down of an economy in recession and scare investors.
"A strike action is set to begin on July 8," said Lesiba Seshoka, spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) which also represents construction workers.
"It's not just the World Cup stadia that will be affected, we are talking about power stations, hospitals, roads and the like. It will last until they (the employers) come to their senses and offer a 13 per cent wage increase for one year."
The NUM said it had served the construction sector's employer body with notice to go on strike after prolonged wage talks collapsed last Friday.
It wants a 13 per cent rise over one year whilst employers have offered a 10 per cent hike.
Several sectors in Africa's biggest economy are holding wage negotiations, some of which cover a two-year period, and unions are demanding above-inflation increases.
Employers have balked at the demands, with consumer inflation at eight per cent, citing the global economic downturn.
As well as World Cup infrastructure, the construction strike could halt work on the mass transit Gautrain high-speed rail project, power stations, an airport, a refinery, a coal terminal, hospitals, highways and mining projects.
The employers' organisation said it would ask the courts to bar a strike, saying an agreement between the parties blocks the union from striking before the end of August this year.
Soccer's world governing body said it was confident South Africa would deliver on its World Cup commitments.
"FIFA has full trust in the host cities and the government in the delivery of their commitments regarding the stadiums," FIFA's media department said.
Over the past two weeks, South Africa has staged the Confederations Cup, a test event for the World Cup, which whetted the appetite for the main event, but some building work still needed to be finished on stadiums.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter gave the Confederations Cup organisers a mark of 7.5 points out of 10.
There was no comment from the government on the news of the strike, but earlier in the day it said the stadiums to be used for the World Cup were nearing completion.