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.
“These reduced production rates will impact on some fuel and chemical production. Sasol is doing everything in its power to continue to supply products to its customers using the available resources.”
The company added that it remained optimistic that the parties will do everything possible to resolve the impasse. and Sappi. A two week strike in the steel and engineering sector ended on Sunday.
Wage talks in South Africa’s mining sector are also well under way, and possible strikes loom in the crucial platinum, coal and gold industries.
Source: Reuters