Green Point stadium 'on track'

2009-07-08 14:24

Johannesburg - The city of Cape Town on Wednesday expressed confidence that a planned nationwide strike by construction workers at 2010 World Cup venues would not threaten the completion on time of its new Green Point stadium.

About 70 000 construction workers have been called on by two unions to down tools over pay starting at noon on Wednesday.

The strike call follows the breakdown in wage negotiations between the building contractors and workers. The workers are looking for a 13% wage increase; their employers are offering 10.4%.

South Africa is upgrading five and building five new stadiums for the World Cup. Four of the five upgrades are already finished and one of the new stadiums - in Port Elizabeth - has also been completed.

The rest are between 70 and 90% completed.

After a delayed start and two previous strikes by workers at the venue, Cape Town's new 68 000-seat Green Point stadium is running right up against deadline.

But a spokesperson for the city told SAfm radio: "We are confident the contractor will meet all his deadlines, especially his one for handover of the stadium (to World Cup organisers FIFA) on the 14th of December this year."

The action will also affect World Cup-related projects, such as Gautrain, being built to link Johannesburg airport to the city's Sandton business district, and a new airport in Durban.

Work on new power stations in the country will also be halted, the National Union of Mineworkers, one of two that called the strike said.

The Labour Court on Monday turned down an application by the contractors for a court interdict to prevent the strike.

- SAPA