Apollo Reports African Operations Halted by Strike

Apollo Tyres has notified the Bombay Stock Exchange that employees at its factories in Africa have joined a nationwide industry strike organised by National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA). Apollo states that “consequent upon declaration of a general strike in tyre industry in South Africa, the workers of both the plants at Durban and Ladysmith of ATSA (Apollo Tyres South Africa) have also gone on strike.”

It is not known whether the striking Apollo workers will be amongst the 7,000 workers – who NUMSA describes as “under-paid and exploited in garages, dealerships, bus and truck body building plants, trye and rubber, car maintenance and repair workshops” – expected to participate in a march in Port Elizabeth, led by NUMSA deputy general secretary  Karl Cloete. According to a NUMSA press statement, at the end of the September 9 march a memorandum of demands to “the golden boys and girls of class exploitation and greedy accumulators of South African monopoly capital,” namely the Retail Motor Industry and Fuel Retailers Association. The list of demands includes a 15 per cent across the board pay increase.

An Apollo official reports that the two South African factories ceased production on September 1.