THE THREE Eastern Cape motor manufacturers – Volkswagen South Africa, DaimlerChrysler and Delta – enjoyed some protection from a three-week national auto industry wage strike. Volkswagen says it continued production at about 75 per cent of capacity due, while Delta also reported that it managed to continue some production. DaimlerChrysler, which was shut down during the strike, has entered into an agreement with the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) to catch up on lost production. DCSA spokesman Lulama Chakela said the recovery programme had been approved by the workers. A spokesman for the shop stewards said the workers would work overtime to recover production lost during last month's three-week strike. This will entail working on Saturdays. The target is to catch up on the lost production by the end of the year. Chakela said that, in terms of the catch-up plan, the plant would work two extended shifts of nine hours each from Monday to Friday, and two shifts of seven hours on some Saturdays. "We have received full support for the recovery programme from our workers and are optimistic that, if everything runs according to plan, we will have fully recovered the backlog by the end of this year," said DCSA management board member for manufacturing Günter Butschek. Auto workers throughout the country embarked on a strike after wage talks deadlocked. The strike ended after the manufacturers and workers signed a comprehensive three year agreement which resulted in a nine per cent wage hike. Commenting on the agreement, National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) president Ian Robertson, said it should lead to a return to stability in the industry.