Numsa's strike at Ford recalls the UK's motor industry collapse from past union actions. Is history repeating?
Reflecting on the past, Numsa's strike at Ford could mirror the collapse of the UK motor industry due to similar union actions.As striking union workers loyal to the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa brought production to a halt at Ford’s factory outside Pretoria yesterday, it is worth looking at history to see the outcomes of similar actions.
In the case of the latter, stoppages at the plants of the then British Leyland group and other companies – and attendant bad work by disaffected workers – led to the effective collapse of the motor industry in that country. While we certainly do not support the rabid capitalist mantra that even a bad job is better than no job at all, we wonder whether the workers at Ford South Africa are not heading down a similar road to their UK comrades all those years ago, in trying to choke the goose which lays the golden eggs.Numsa has heard that the global operation of Ford – which is headquartered in the US – produced annual profits of $25 billion and demands that workers here get a slice of that cake.
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