NUMSA demands IDC intervenes in large-scale industry job cuts
Workers of ArcelorMittal are facing an uncertain future since the company announced pending retrenchments.
NUMSA staged a picket outside the IDC over looming retrenchments of an estimated 3,500 employees at ArcelorMittal South Africa on 21 February 2025. Picture: Thandoluhle Ngcobo/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - Metal workers' union NUMSA demands intervention from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to halt large-scale job cuts.
Workers of ArcelorMittal are facing an uncertain future since the company announced pending retrenchments.
The company said it will not reverse its decision if the government does not develop a working solution by next week.
READ: NUMSA members picket outside IDC over looming ArcelorMittal retrenchments
NUMSA has put a request to the IDC as a minority shareholder that has in the past provided funding for the entity to deliver a memorandum calling for government to act swiftly to resolve AMSA's challenges.
The union said one of the country’s biggest car companies has warned that the closure of the country's biggest steel business will directly affect the industry as well.
"Toyota South Africa has already warned us to say that if that long steel business closes, it will affect them directly."
Toyota revealed that it depends on AMSA for a certain type of steel that is only available from ArcelorMittal.
The union says the Department of Trade Industry and Competition and government cannot afford to let key sectors such as AMSA collapse.