2010: Nelspruit workers strike

2007-12-04 09:07

Nelspruit - Builders of a stadium for the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa went on strike on Monday with talks still locked on bonuses and transport allowances, the union said.

Some 800 workers downed tools for the fifth day running at the site of the Mbombela stadium, where at least four first-round matches in the World Cup are scheduled to be played.

"They want a R2 000 bonus and a R900 transport allowance," the regional co-ordinator for the National Union of Mineworkers, Onismus Serothwane, said.

Workers at the stadium in Nelspruit first went on strike on November 21, however they returned to work after a day to allow their employers to come up with a suitable offer.

They resumed their strike action last Wednesday after the parties failed to find a deal.

"Negotiations will continue until an agreement can be reached," said Serothwane.

Grievances over working conditions have halted construction at other stadium building sites in Durban and Cape Town.

However, event organisers remain confident of the nation's readiness for the first Soccer World Cup to be held on the continent.

- AFP