Striking S Africa petroleum workers settle for 8.5%

07 August 2007 09:59  [Source: ICIS news]

JOHANNESBURG (ICIS news)--Striking petroleum workers in South Africa are returning to work after settling on an 8.5% wage increase with employers, a major union said on Tuesday.

 

“We signed an agreement in the early hours of this morning with the National Petroleum Employers’ Association,” said Welile Nolingo, general secretary of the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU).

 

The deal signals the end of industrial action which saw up to 40,000 workers across the petroleum and industrial chemical sectors down tools in a row over pay. A small minority still remain on strike.

 

Alfie Ngubo, chief negotiator at the National Petroleum Employers’ Association (NPEA), said that staff needed to get back to work immediately.

 

Striking petroleum workers had shut down South Africa’s Sapref refinery. Sapref, a 50:50 joint venture of energy multinationals Shell SA Energy and BP Southern Africa, has 35% of the country's refining output with capacity of 180 000 bbl/day.

 

PetroSA’s 35,000 bbl/day gas-to-liquids plant in Mossel Bay in Western Cape province had also shut after more than 500 CEPPWAWU members went on strike.

 

Petrol pumps in many parts of the country have run dry, causing frustration and anger among motorists and business owners.

 

By: Mark Allix
+44 20 8652 3214

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