With over a year of fatal protests and strikes which rocked South Africa’s mining industry, strike action again poses a threat to the country’s economy as all automobile plants in the country were shutdown on Monday after 30,000 auto factory employees didn’t resume for work in protest for a 20 percent salary increase.

According to Reuters, the National Association Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA) said the sector would lose about 600 million rand ($60 million) per day to the nationwide shutdown.

Auto manufacturing accounts for 12 percent of South Africa’s exports and at least 6 percent of it GDP, which is Africa’s largest.

While commenting on the development, the national motor sector coordinator for the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), Elias Kubeka said to Reuters that the strike was “very well supported and all of the factories, 100 percent, are shut down”.

Japanese automaker Toyota which is one of the manufacturers based in the country said 80 percent of its 8,000 employees were absent for work on Monday.

7 affected global car brands operating in the region include Mercedes Benz, General Motors, BMW, Nissan, Renault, Volkswagen and Ford.