Cape Town: Strike will not jeopardize new World Cup stadium

Jul 8, 2009, 8:41 GMT

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 Greenpoint stadium.

Around 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 per cent wage increase; their employers are offering 10.4 per cent.

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 per cent completed.

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

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

The action will also affect World Cup-related projects, such as a fast train (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.