All seemed well at Soccer City as workers clocked in at 7am on Wednesday morning in their usual helmets and blue overalls.
But by midday the main 2010 World Cup venue resembled a battleground. More than 1 500 workers had swapped their picks and shovels for sticks as they toyi-toyied outside, demanding a pay rise.
Work at the opening and closing venue for next year’s World Cup was brought to a standstill, with the only activity being that of the subcontractors. Even the foremen and site managers seemed at a loss and watched from inside the perimeter fence.
”We don’t care how long it takes, but we are not going back to work until Safcec (the South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors) heeds our call for a 13% [increase],” said Boy Mtsi, one of the strike co-ordinators.
Workers at Soccer City were among the 70 000 employees around the country who responded to Wednesday’s National Union of Mine Workers (NUM) call for industrial action, the result of which almost paralysed the construction industry.
Mtsi said workers being paid a pittance had been forced to choose their families over working towards bringing Africa’s first World Cup to fruition.
”Our minimum wage is just R2 500 and once you factor in daily living expenses this amount falls far short for us to take our families even to a single match next year,” he said.
Besides the salary increase, the workers want their conditions improved.
”We don’t get a year-end bonus, only four hours is paid when rain halts work and some of the people you see here are still just labourers with no formal contracts. This makes it easy for management to dismiss or forget about them after injuries. All these issues must be addressed before we can return to work,” Mtsi said.
”There will be no pay for the days we are on strike, but we don’t care. Enough is enough,” said Phumulani Nyandeni, a construction worker.
But their efforts failed to convince Safcec to change its position on a 10% raise. And when Mtsi and his counterparts marched to the South African Football Association offices to present their grievances there were no senior officials to meet them.