BLBG:South African Oil Workers Could End Strike Over Wages, State Mediator Says
A 17-day strike by workers at the South African units of oil companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Petroliam Nasional Bhd. may end after the employers revised their pay offer, a government mediator said.
The workers will consider the new proposal today and announce a decision tomorrow, the government’s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration said in an e-mailed statement late yesterday.
Members of the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers Union, the General Industries Workers Union and the South African Chemical Workers Union have been on strike since July 11, demanding pay increases of 11 percent to 13 percent, more than double the country’s 5 percent inflation rate. The dispute has caused lines of cars at gas stations in cities including Johannesburg and cut production at refineries.
“There’s definite progress being made,” Dirk Hermann, secretary general of the Solidarity union, which is also involved in the dispute and suspended its strike last week, said by phone from Johannesburg today. “The new offer definitely addresses the gap between the parties.”
Other companies that have been affected by the strike include BP Plc (BP/), Chevron Corp. (CVX), Total SA (FP), Sasol Ltd. (SOL) and PetroSA.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jana Marais in Johannesburg at jmarais@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Viljoen at jviljoen@bloomberg.net
