Ford strike ends with R20,000 payout to workers

Striking members of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) are set to return to the production line of US motor company Ford a week after they downed tools in support of their demands for profit sharing.

A Numsa official said the union had negotiated with the company for the striking workers to return to work at the Silverton Assembly Plant on Friday.

“All workers will receive [a one-off] R20,000 [payment] each from the company. Ford is not willing to call that profit share ... but it’s something that Numsa negotiated to guarantee the return of workers and Ford agreed,” said the official.

“And there will be no dismissals for those who participated in the strike. They will return to work starting from tomorrow [Friday].”

Business Day understands Numsa kept the information about workers not having returned to work under wraps so as not to scupper negotiations. The company also didn’t communicate about workers not having returned to their jobs.

Ford SA corporate communications manager Duduzile Nxele said on Thursday that Numsa’s dispute with Ford SA “has been amicably concluded. Striking employees are scheduled to return to work on Friday to resume normal production operations at Silverton”, where its Ranger bakkies are assembled.

Also on Thursday, Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said the agreement was reached “after days of marathon behind-the-scenes negotiations with Ford management to address the legitimate grievances of workers ... all workers will be able to return to work, and there will be no disciplinary sanction for those who participated in the strike”.

Jim said Numsa also negotiated that Ford pays each worker R20,000 as “a deadlock-breaking mechanism, and to pay these monies as soon as possible following the return of workers to the workplace”.

“Numsa calls on all workers at Ford to report for their shifts tomorrow morning (Friday July 12) commencing at 6am, in that the strike has ended.

“This is a victory for workers. As a union we believe that the working class must benefit from the profits that are generated because workers create wealth. It would not have been possible if our members had not been united in their demands,” Jim said.

Nxele did not specifically respond to questions about the deal with Numsa; how the strike affected production; how much it would cost the company to implement the deal; and how many workers would benefit.

However, she told Business Day last week that production disruptions had a profound impact on SA’s economy and its global reputation as a place to do business.

It was feared the strike would affect Ford’s production and suppliers, as well as throw supply chain processes into disarray.

“When making decisions about future investment, consistency of production is vital to maintaining competitiveness and an important factor when determining manufacturing locations,” Nxele said last week.

Numsa, the country’s largest trade union with more than 450,000 members, is the only union at Ford SA, according to treasurer Mphumzi Maqungo. The company had a staff complement of 3,500, of which Numsa represented 3,000 workers, Maqungo has said. 

The automotive sector is one of the country’s biggest, contributing 4.3% to GDP. It is also the fifth-largest export sector, accounting for 18.1% of total exports. It employs more than 110,000 people.

Jim has said Ford SA could afford to pay workers “some kind of bonus” as the company “made a fortune” globally over the past four years.

“According to Macrotrends ... their gross profit for the 12 months ending March 31 2024 was $25.137bn.”

In November 2023, Ford SA said it was spending R5.2bn to turn its SA subsidiary into the only global manufacturer of plug-in, hybrid-electric Ranger bakkies.

Business Day has reported that by the time the investment is complete late in 2024 Ford will have spent R35bn on its SA operations since 2011, when the Silverton vehicle assembly plant in Tshwane switched exclusively to Ranger production.

Update: July 11 2024
This story has additional comment from Ford SA.

mkentanel@businesslive.co.za