Numsa protesting nationwide to demand that ‘retrenched’ workers be reinstated

The National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa) will be embarking on a nationwide protest against steel manufacturing giant Macsteel, following the alleged retrenchment of 99 workers. 

Macsteel has branches in Port Elizabeth, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Mpumalanga. Numsa members said they would be picketing at “various offices and workplaces nationally” from Monday morning. 

#Macsteel is a brutal employer which does not care about workers and their families.
.@IrvinJimSA
.@SAFTU_media
.@BDliveSA
.@busrep
.@cnbcafrica pic.twitter.com/IuRrKeNGv5

— NUMSA (@Numsa_Media) January 18, 2021

Their only demand, they said, was that all 99 workers that were allegedly retrenched be reinstated. 

“It is simply inhumane to retrench workers during a deadly pandemic, especially during Christmas, which is what this management did.”

The trade union is alleging that Macsteel “is using the pandemic to boost their profit margins”, saying that in previous retrenchment incidents, “the savings they made from job cuts were used to pay managers and executives generous bonuses and packages.” 

Greedy capitalists are exploiting the pandemic for themselves, at the expense of the working class. They have no regard for the suffering of employees, or the impact on workers and their families during a pandemic. SIES!#Macsteel
.@IOL
.@busrep
.@TheCitizen_News
.@JacaNews

— NUMSA (@Numsa_Media) January 16, 2021

In an blog article which appeared on Macsteel’s website, the manufacturer laid out the economic pressures being experienced by the sector. 

ALSO READ: Steel shortage: small factories are on their knees

Macsteel Trading sales executive Marcus Nel said that since 2009, steel production and manufacturing industries in the country have been hit hard, due to reduced activity across multiple sectors. 

The Covid-19 pandemic further exacerbated the steel sector’s economic woes, in addition to intermittent difficulties in Arcelor Mittal South Africa’s supply issues.

Numsa has labelled Macsteel a “cold and calculating employer” with “no sympathy for workers and their families and the suffering they will endure from being unemployed during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

#Macsteel is a cold and calculating employer. They dismissed workers during Christmas during the shutdown. They have no sympathy for workers and their families and the suffering they will endure from being unemployed during the #covid19 pandemic.
.@SABCNews
.@eNCA
.@IOL

— NUMSA (@Numsa_Media) January 16, 2021

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