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S.Africa refinery workers get authority to strike
South African oil and petrochemicals refinery workers have received authorisation under labour laws to strike, but will return for more talks next week, the Solidarity Union said on Thursday.
A joint strike by three unions representing around 9,000 workers would shut down some of the nation's five refineries since the workforce is more than three-quarters unionised, Solidarity spokesman Jaco Kleynhans told Reuters.
"We are ready to strike, we had a mandate from our members, but we believe that a strike will have a national impact, so we would rather resolve the dispute," he said.
The unions have received a strike certificate from a government-linked body after holding required mediation talks.
Talks deadlocked on Wednesday after companies led by synthetic fuels and chemicals firm Sasol increased their offer to 6.0 percent from 5.5 percent, still below the union's demand of 10 percent, Kleynhans said.
"The employers came to us this morning and said they want to talk again, which is for us an indication that they will probably come with a new offer that we can take to our members."
The fresh talks were scheduled for July 12.
Reuters
"We are ready to strike, we had a mandate from our members, but we believe that a strike will have a national impact, so we would rather resolve the dispute," he said.
The unions have received a strike certificate from a government-linked body after holding required mediation talks.
Talks deadlocked on Wednesday after companies led by synthetic fuels and chemicals firm Sasol increased their offer to 6.0 percent from 5.5 percent, still below the union's demand of 10 percent, Kleynhans said.
"The employers came to us this morning and said they want to talk again, which is for us an indication that they will probably come with a new offer that we can take to our members."
The fresh talks were scheduled for July 12.
Reuters
