Car workers consider new offer

Johannesburg - A new wage offer by the Automobile Employers' Organisation (Ameo) on Wednesday afternoon would be considered by striking workers, said the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa).

"We are not at liberty to disclose the finer details of the offer until we report back to our members tomorrow (Thursday)," said Numsa spokesperson Castro Ngobese.

"Inasmuch as the offer is slightly far from our initial demands, we strongly believe that it is worth being considered by our members," he said.

Two weeks ago, Ameo was offering a seven percent wage increase.

About 3000 union members marched on employers' offices in Pretoria earlier on Wednesday to hand over a memorandum.

The workers are demanding a 15 percent across-the-board wage increase, a 100 percent lay-off payment and the scrapping of labour  brokers.

They also demand that Ameo reduce working hours to eight hours a day from Monday to Friday, and allow six months of paid maternity leave.

Numsa said the aim of the march was to pressure employers to accede to the demands.