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South Africa: Truckers sign wage deal – strike ends
Moody’s also cut South Africa’s credit rating last month, citing the government’s failure to tackle the industrial unrest that has swept from the platinum and gold sectors into other parts of the economy.
In the diamond industry, striking workers at Petra Diamonds mines have agreed to return to work while union leaders continue talks with management, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Friday.
Gasoline stations have been experiencing delays of up to a day in getting fuel and some have run completely dry, the South African Petroleum Industry Association said on Thursday.
Other affected companies include logistics groups Imperial Holding, Super Group, Grindrod, Barloworld and Bidvest.
South Africa is home to 80 percent of known reserves of platinum and the price of the precious metal has risen more than 20 percent since the industrial unrest began.
Striking gold miners rejected the industry’s latest wage offer on Thursday. Africa’s top three bullion producers – AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Harmony Gold – have given them until Monday to reconsider.
In a separate dispute, a union representing 190,000 government workers has threatened a nationwide strike from next week. One of the union’s provincial branches will meet with employers on Tuesday to discuss the workers’ demands.
Around 3,800 clothing workers have also downed tools over wages, the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (SACTWU) said.
