Business
South Africa fuel industry, union in talks to end strike
Employers in South Africa’s fuel industry are meeting with unions on Monday in a bid to end a week-long strike that has left hundreds of fuel pumps dry and may cost Africa’s biggest economy billions of rand in lost output.
Tens of thousands of workers in the fuel sector began walking off the job last week, delaying deliveries and sparking panic buying at pumps in the economic hub of Gauteng province.
The industrial action intensified on Monday after a small but influential union joined other labour groups already on strike.
“The talks are still in process and are likely to continue through the night,” said John Appolis, national policy coordinator at the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU), which has some 70,000 members on strike.
The union is demanding 13 percent wage increases, about triple the inflation rate, and above the 4 to 7 percent offered by employers.
Fuel industry employers include BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell, petrochemicals group Sasol, state-owned energy firm PetroSA, Engen, Chevron and Total.
Sasol said the strike was affecting production at its Secunda synthetic fuels plant.
“In the interest of safety, sections of the East side of the Sasol Secunda plant are being run at lower production rates than normal,” Sasol said.
