Johannesburg - Workers at cement and building materials producer Lafarge South Africa remain on strike despite the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) accepting the company’s offer of an 8-percent salary increase.
Unathi Batyashe-Fillis, the country manager for communications and public affairs at Lafarge, said on Wednesday that an agreement had not yet been reached on other issues.
Read: Wage protests at Lafarge SA unlikely to spread
Batyashe-Fillis said Lafarge’s improved housing grant offer of R70 000, an increase from the initial offer of R50 000, was its final offer. Lafarge has offered a 30 percent acting allowance, with the NUM demanding 35 percent.
With regard to salary gaps, Batyashe-Fillis said Lafarge had proposed a process where both the company’s management and NUM leadership could come together to find a solution that benefited its employees and was also open to engaging an independent party to ensure the matter was dealt with in a fair and transparent manner.
She said the NUM was currently communicating the latest offers to its members and the company was waiting for the union’s response.
The strike at Lafarge has entered its second week. Batyashe-Fillis said Lafarge’s operations remained unaffected by the strike.
BUSINESS REPORT