South Africa's metalworkers' union NUMSA rejected the latest pay offer from engineering and steel sector employers on Sunday, saying black workers were still underpaid, and threatened to widen its two-week old strike.
Industrial action by 220,000 NUMSA members, which followed on the heels of a crippling five-month strike in the platinum sector, has already forced General Motors to close its assembly plant in the southern city of Port Elizabeth.
Other companies affected are construction companies Murray & Roberts and Aveng Ltd, which are working on the construction of two major power plants for state power utility Eskom.
NUMSA is demanding a 12-15%annual wage increase for its members and on Sunday rejected employers' latest offer of a
10% increase this year, 9.5% in 2015 and 9% the year after that.
One union official said NUMSA would not accept anything less than a 10% annual rise over three years at the very least.
A call is also being made to intensify the strike. That could mean calling 100,000 NUMSA members in other industries to join the strike as well.
Meantime, the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa (SEIFSA), which represents employers in the sector, said it was disappointed with NUMSA's rejection of what it called its "very good final offer".
The official said NUMSA was due to meet with employers again on Monday.
