The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) on Wednesday served the country’s seven vehicle manufacturers with a 48-hour notice to strike.

Automobile Manufacturers Employers Organisation (Ameo) chairperson Thapelo Molapo said a nationwide strike should start on Monday.

Numsa chief negotiator Alex Mashilo confirmed that 31 000 workers would down tools.

Nissan, BMW, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, General Motors and Mercedes-Benz all manufacture vehicles in South Africa for the local and export markets.

Ameo and Numsa were in the midst of negotiating a new wage agreement in a national bargaining forum, as the previous multiyear wage agreement ran out earlier this year.

Molapo said he did not want to discuss the wage negotiations in terms of percentage increases offered and wanted.

“We started with 36 items to negotiate and we have 17 outstanding, with 19 already agreed upon.”

Newswire Reuters quoted Mashilo as saying that labour had lowered its initial demand for a 20% increase to 14%, but that car manufactures were only prepared to offer 6% during negotiations.

Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) spokesperson Leo Kok said the local arm of the Japanese manufacturer would lose production of 700 vehicles a day at its Durban plant should Numsa strike on Monday.

TSAM produced the Hilux, Corolla and Fortuner models.

General Motors South Africa (GMSA) spokesperson Denise van Huyssteen said the Port Elizabeth-based company would lose production of 225 vehicles a day in the event of a strike. GMSA produced the Isuzu pickup for local and African markets.

BMW South Africa (SA) spokesperson Guy Kilfoil said lost production at BMW would amount to 345 3 Series units a day, of which 80% were exported.

BMW SA already faced a strike at its Rosslyn plant, near Pretoria, linked to shift allowances. This strike started on Thursday last week.  

Kilfoil said this week's strike was proving damaging to BMW SA's reputation abroad as a trustworthy supplier of vehicles to markets such as the US and Japan.

"Things like this cut the branch the industry sits on."

Workers at Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa were also already on strike, downing tools on Wednesday. The local arm of the US manufacturer, which produced the Ford Ranger, in Silverton, did not want to confirm the reason behind the industrial action.