Grain strike averted
South Africa’s biggest grain processing and logistics companies and a union representing workers reach a wage agreement.
|||Johannesburg - South Africa’s biggest grain processing and logistics companies and a union representing workers reached a wage agreement, averting a strike.
The pact, signed Thursday, means that workers will get a wage increase of 6 percent to 8 percent from companies including Senwes, NWK, OWK and Suidwes, which are former agricultural cooperatives, Riaan Gerritzen, a representative for the processors, said by phone.
“We have signed an agreement and there will be no strike,” he said.
Workers were seeking above-inflation increases as South Africa, a net exporter of agricultural products, last year had the least rainfall since records started in 1904, damaging crops and herds, and raising food prices.
Read also: Grain sector strike could put jobs on the line
The farmers will need as much as R16.6 billion ($1.1 billion) in the year through March to subsidise feed purchases, provide grants and interest-rate subsidies to aid commercial growers in financial distress and help operators pay workers, a study by AGRI SA and others showed.
Demands included an increase of at least R500 monthly and a minimum wage of at least R4 500.
Other requests include an extra month of pay annually, performance bonuses and an 850 rand housing allowance, Deputy General Secretary Moleko Phakedi said.
Read also: Grain talks break down
South Africa’s annual inflation rate was 6.2 percent in April.
BLOOMBERG