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| November 14, 2007 | Wednesday | Ziqa’ad 03, 1428 |
SA union threatens to widen World Cup strike
JOHANNESBURG, Nov 13: Construction work for the 2010 football World Cup was in danger on Tuesday of grinding to a complete halt as unions prepared to seek court authorisation to down tools at all of the host stadia.
Building has already been on hold at the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban for a week and now the National Union of Mineworkers is set to file an application to the labour court to spread the stoppage to the nine other venues.
“The application (for secondary strike action) has been attended to already and is now in the hands of our legal team. We will have definitely filed the application by tomorrow at the latest,” said union spokesman Lesiba Seshoka.
“We are waiting for movement on behalf of the employer but up to now, there has been none and there are no meetings scheduled,” he told AFP.
The strike by construction workers at the Moses Mabhida stadium in the eastern coastal city of Durban began six days ago in a dispute over pay and conditions. Efforts at mediation have made no progress.
Under South African law, unions must gain authorisation from the labour court if they want to extend industrial action to beyond the source of the initial dispute.
The mineworkers’ union (NUM) is by far the biggest in the country and most construction workers belong to the body.
Seshoka said the union was keen to avoid disruption to construction but said the concerns of workers in Durban were felt elsewhere.
“As you know an injury to one is an injury to all. Despite the fact that it is in solidarity (with Durban), it is also due to the fact that we are facing similar challenges,” he said.
The World Cup’s local organising committee (LOC) acknowledged that it was “definitely concerned” by the threat of a secondary strike threat.
“We still believe that those workers will be rational. We cannot start a big project such as this and then abandon it,” he told AFP.
“We are confident that the parties involved will understand that and appreciate the fact that we want to be done in time.”—AFP
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