Striking union members attack us – builders

05-09-2013
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Cape Times
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CONSTRUCTION workers around the city are being attacked, threatened and prevented from getting to work and construction sites are being forced to shut down due to the strike.

Yesterday managers of some construction companies told the Cape Times that striking civil engineering sector workers were stopping their employees at stations, rummaging through their bags and beating them up if they found construction equipment. They said that workers continued to call in and complain of being victimised.

Yesterday police spokesman Andre Traut said that officers were “dealing with several sporadic incidents of gatherings and potential unrest situations”. Areas included Lwandle in Strand, Hindle Road in the Blue Downs area and Old Faure Road.

The civil engineering sector strike, which does not involve the building industry, started about two weeks ago and involved the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Building Construction And Allied Workers Union (BCAWU).

BCAWU, which has more more than 7 000 members in the province, accepted an offer on Tuesday. NUM did not budge.

This week reports of strikers acting violently and targeting construction workers not part of the labour action included:

On Monday construction company owner Abe Mowlana From Page 1 was attacked and suffered a fractured skull at a construction site in Athlone. He said about 20 members of a group of about 150 striking NUM members targeted him.

“They hit a bottle over my head. They hit me with a brick. They looted the site and took R100 000 worth of stuff,” Mowlana said yesterday.

“The neurosurgeon said I’m lucky to be alive.”

On Monday about 50 striking workers stormed a construction site office camp in Heideveld where the City of Cape Town was refurbishing residential units. In a statement, the city said: “Some of the project’s contractor staff were assaulted and three sustained fairly serious injuries. Several construction vehicles and a delivery truck were damaged by the protesters.”

On the Facebook forum Traffic fines, cameras & updates in Western Cape, a user said one of her bakkies was attacked by protesters early yesterday on the R300.

“Lots of dents as they were hitting it with bricks and knobkieries and even opened the back and assaulted 2 of my guys,” she said.

Rob Johnson, executive director of the provincial Master Builders Association, said an apprentice was attacked while waiting for a lift on the side of the road along the R300. The apprentice was beaten up and his belongings stolen.

Yesterday NUM provincial secretary Happiness Holiday said between 3 000 and 4 000 members in the civil construction sector were on strike. He said according to picket rules, workers were supposed to stay out of construction sites when protesting, but groups of protesters had decided “at group level” to enter sites after meetings in the areas where they lived.

“We are leading the strike but not necessarily everybody is our member,” Holiday said.

Johnson said NUM, the only union remaining in the strike, was the minority. He said strikers had caused “a lot of damage”.

“We’ve had people seriously injured, damage to property and vehicles... There’s intimidation in townships. (Construction workers) are told: ‘You go to work. We’ll burn your house down’,” he said.

Johnson said due to workers being intimidated two major construction companies had shut down their construction sites. One of the bigger firms, Murray & Roberts, referred queries to SA Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors, whose spokeswoman Annemie Cowley said: “Employers are taking the necessary action to keep their employees and sites safe.”

An employer at a construction company based in Ottery, who declined to be named for fear of intimidation, said two of his sites would close.

“Others that are ‘hidden’ will carry on. The guys are being intimidated and threatened,” he said.

An employer at another company, who also declined to be named as he did not want to put his staff in danger, said to try to avoid being attacked, his employees left for work at 4.45am and returned home at 3pm.

Michael Bagraim, of the Cape Chamber of Commerce’s human resources committee, said construction companies already behind schedule could find themselves even further behind, and this could result in penalties for them at a later stage.

He said construction workers paid daily or weekly and prevented from going to work were “already suffering”.