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South Africa: Truckers sign wage deal – strike ends
(Reuters) – Truck drivers in South Africa have signed a wage deal to end a three-week strike, the freight employers group said on Friday, putting an end to a walk-out that has hit deliveries of fuel, cash and consumer goods in Africa’s top economy.
More than 20,000 truck drivers have taken to the streets in protests since late September, demanding higher wages.
“The agreement has been signed by everyone. The strike is off immediately,” Penwell Lunga, chairman of the Road Freight Employers Association told Reuters.
He said workers have agreed to accept wage increases of 10 percent from March 2013, 8 percent the following year and 9 percent for 2015.
All four transport unions were part of the agreement, Road Freight Employers Association spokeswoman Magretia Brown-Engelbrecht said, although she did not reveal details of the deal.
News of the wage deal helped relieve some of the pressure on the rand. The currency, which tumbled to a 3-1/2 year low on Monday on concerns about weeks of crippling strikes, hit its highest in a week immediately following the news.
Since August almost 100,000 workers across South Africa – including 75,000 in the mining sector – have downed tools in strikes that have undermined investor confidence and economic growth.
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.