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Johannesburg - South Africa’s steel and engineering firms and their workers are evaluating a new wage proposal meant to end a week-long strike, an industry body said on Tuesday, while a strike in the fuel sector is unfolding.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) said thousands of workers went on strike last week seeking a 13% wage rise, almost three times the inflation rate.
Employer body Seifsa has so far been offering a 7% increase. But Lucio Trentini, its operations director, said mediators had put forward a new proposal this week that seeks a compromise between the two parties.
“In that document there is substantial movement off the 13% that Numsa has demanded and the 7% that we have offered,” he told Reuters, but declined to give more details.
The union and employers will meet on Wednesday to decide on the proposal, which could either end the strike or prolong it indefinitely, he added. The union could not immediately be reached.
Employers in the sector include ArcelorMittal SA [JSE:ACL] unit and Highveld Steel & Vanadium.
Trentini said production and financial losses from the strike were substantial.
Unions and employers are in their mid-year bargaining session known as “strike season”, with many labour groups seeking wage increases that far exceed inflation.
Central bank and Treasury officials have said high wage increases threaten the outlook for inflation and could help push interest rates higher eventually.
Thousands of workers in the country’s petroleum, chemical and pharmaceutical industries also began a strike on Monday over wages, although the supply of fuel has been unaffected so far due to stockpiles at pump stations.
But the indefinite strike is likely to take its toll, with fuel shortages and delays in deliveries expected. Logistics firm GAC said it expects berthing and bunker delivery delays in Cape Town.
“The local bunker barge is currently busy bunkering a vessel. Once they are finished no other bunkers can be uplifted,” GAC said.
Shell said intimidation and attacks on vehicles hit deliveries to South Africa’s economic hub in Gauteng, but overall its fuel depots remained stable.
Petrochemicals group Sasol [JSE:SOL] , which operates a coal-to-liquids plant at Secunda east of Johannesburg and produces chemicals at Sasolburg, said it has put contingency measures in place to minimise the strike’s impact.
“Currently, all major complexes at Secunda and Sasolburg are operating with minimal disruption,” spokesperson Nothemba Noruwana said in an email sent late on Monday.
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.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) said thousands of workers went on strike last week seeking a 13% wage rise, almost three times the inflation rate.
Employer body Seifsa has so far been offering a 7% increase. But Lucio Trentini, its operations director, said mediators had put forward a new proposal this week that seeks a compromise between the two parties.
“In that document there is substantial movement off the 13% that Numsa has demanded and the 7% that we have offered,” he told Reuters, but declined to give more details.
The union and employers will meet on Wednesday to decide on the proposal, which could either end the strike or prolong it indefinitely, he added. The union could not immediately be reached.
Employers in the sector include ArcelorMittal SA [JSE:ACL] unit and Highveld Steel & Vanadium.
Trentini said production and financial losses from the strike were substantial.
Unions and employers are in their mid-year bargaining session known as “strike season”, with many labour groups seeking wage increases that far exceed inflation.
Central bank and Treasury officials have said high wage increases threaten the outlook for inflation and could help push interest rates higher eventually.
Thousands of workers in the country’s petroleum, chemical and pharmaceutical industries also began a strike on Monday over wages, although the supply of fuel has been unaffected so far due to stockpiles at pump stations.
But the indefinite strike is likely to take its toll, with fuel shortages and delays in deliveries expected. Logistics firm GAC said it expects berthing and bunker delivery delays in Cape Town.
“The local bunker barge is currently busy bunkering a vessel. Once they are finished no other bunkers can be uplifted,” GAC said.
Shell said intimidation and attacks on vehicles hit deliveries to South Africa’s economic hub in Gauteng, but overall its fuel depots remained stable.
Petrochemicals group Sasol [JSE:SOL] , which operates a coal-to-liquids plant at Secunda east of Johannesburg and produces chemicals at Sasolburg, said it has put contingency measures in place to minimise the strike’s impact.
“Currently, all major complexes at Secunda and Sasolburg are operating with minimal disruption,” spokesperson Nothemba Noruwana said in an email sent late on Monday.
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.
