* Three smaller unions agree to return to work
* Biggest transport union under pressure to follow
* Fuel, consumer good, cash deliveries disrupted
By Agnieszka Flak and Wendell Roelf
JOHANNESBURG, Oct 9 (Reuters) – About a third of striking
South African truckers have agreed to return to work on
Wednesday, easing pressure on Africa’s biggest economy where two
weeks of labour unrest in the transport sector have hit supplies
of fuel, cash and consumer goods.
But disputes in the mining sector escalated after Gold One
fired the majority of its 1,900 workers at its
Ezulwini operation, paralysed since last week by a wildcat
strike. Atlatsa Resources said it had also fired 2,161
miners for an illegal strike.
Tuesday’s decision by three small transport unions with
15,000 members to abandon the truckers strike puts pressure on
the biggest labour group, the South African Transport and Allied
Workers Union (SATAWU), which represents about 28,000 workers,
to reach a deal and suspend its calls to widen the strike.
Since August, almost 100,000 workers across South Africa,
including 75,000 in the mining sector, have downed tools in
often illegal and violent strikes that may hit economic growth
this year and undermine investor confidence in the minerals hub.
“The three unions advised that they came to this decision in
light of the fact that employers have now offered double digits
(a pay rise) for the year,” an employers association said. It
was still in talks with all groups to hammer out a final deal.
Continued…
