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Petroleum workers sign wage deal

Johannesburg - Around 10 000 workers in the petroleum sector have agreed to a two-year wage deal, a rare positive development in labour relations in the strike-hit economy.

The National Petroleum Employers' Association (NPEA) said on Thursday the agreement covered engineers and other skilled workers at companies such as petrochemicals producer Sasol.

The first year of the agreement would see employees receive a 8.5% wage increase, and would be effective from July 1, secretary Gerrie Bezuidenhout said in a statement.

"The wage increase for year two, effective July 1 2015, will be the April 2015 CPI plus an improvement factor of 1.5%."

The agreement was concluded following three rounds of negotiations, with the first taking place on May 14, under the auspices of the National Bargaining Council for the Chemical Industry.

Bezuidenhout said the wage deal reflected the good relations that existed between employers and employees in the sector.

"Negotiations were conducted in a spirit of co-operation and no incidents took place during the period of the negotiations," he said.

The agreement was between the NPEA, representing all the major oil companies, and labour unions CEPPWAWU (Chemical Energy Paper Printing Wood and Allied Workers Union), Solidarity and the SA Chemical Workers Union.

The economy is reeling from a strike in the platinum mining industry that ended after five months and is bracing for a stoppage set to start on July 1 by 220 000 members of the Numsa, that will hit sectors including engineering, communications and automotive components.

 - Sapa, Reuters

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