Labour: Unions lower wage demand

Labour unions representing striking metalworkers had submitted a lower wage demand to employers, union representatives said yesterday. More than 200 000 metal and engineering workers downed tools at the start of the month demanding wage increases of between 12 percent to 15 percent. Six striking unions met employers at weekend. The new proposal was for a three-year agreement with annual increases of 8 percent or 10 percent depending on pay grade, said Johan van Niekerk, a spokesman for the United Association of SA. Both Van Niekerk and Marius Croucamp, a spokesman for the Solidarity union, which is participating in the talks because its workers had been locked out by the strike, said the main National Union of Metalworkers of SA had backed the proposal. – Reuters