The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) in the Eastern Cape condemns the management of Tenneco for stubbornly refusing to help us to resolve the strike. The strike is in its seventh week since it started on the 5th of April 2023. Eighty seven (87) workers remain unfairly dismissed and one worker sadly passed away due to a heart attack, because of the rigid attitude displayed by the Employer. While the CCMA has tried several times to intervene, the employer has refused all efforts to resolve the impasse.
NUMSA has applied for a section 150 application in terms of the Labour Relations Act to permit the CCMA to appoint a Senior Commissioner to facilitate resolution of the current dispute between the parties. Tenneco Automotive is attempting to destroy workers hard won gains, and this goes against the company’s Global Human Resources – Basic Working Condition Policy, which states the following relevant to the current situation in South Africa:
“Discrimination and Harassment”
The Company is committed to providing a work environment where all employees and others who do business with the Company, regardless of position or status, and regardless of nationality and national origin, race, religion, gender, physical abilities, sexual orientation, age, caste or other characteristics, are treated with dignity, respect and equality. Behavior that undermines gender equality, reduces the quality of working life or jeopardizes the well-being of employees will not be tolerated, whether committed by or directed toward subordinates, co-workers, managers, suppliers or customers as is fully described in policy TNHR-GL005, Harassment Free Workplace.”
Collective Bargaining under attack:
The conduct by Tenneco Automotive in South Africa is nothing less than an attack on collective bargaining and by extension an attack on the very existence of the labour movement in the country. If Tenneco’s inflexible attitude persists, it will require all workers, all unions and their federations to set aside their differences and fight together to defeat this attack on workers hard won gains. Otherwise if this is left alone, all workers from all sectors will be faced by the same or similar conduct by employers – i.e. reduction in wages in order maximize profits for the bosses.
It is for this reason that NUMSA has begun a process to consult workers from four other sister companies in South Africa, which fall under the component manufacturing sector and auto assemblers, with the clear intention of getting support for a solidarity action. Such solidarity action must do two things:
- Bring Tenneco Automotive back to the negotiating table
- It must result in a speedy resolution to the current dispute.
NUMSA remains thankful for the solidarity message received from local communities, other organizations and international sister unions like IG-Metall from Germany. We have resolved to intensify our international solidarity campaign so that Tenneco Globally must respond to the plight of South African Tenneco employees. Such a response must be consistent with their global policies as stated above.
List of demands that will break the strike are as follows:
- A complete reversal/abandonment of the S189A notice as it displayed no rationale for job cuts, as required by the LRA.
- The immediate reinstatement of all 87 dismissed workers who rejected down-variation of pay rates.
- Equalization of pay rates for all employees doing the same work to the maximum pay of rates.
Issued by NUMSA Regional Secretary Eastern Cape Mziyanda Twani