Cape Town - Wage talks to end a strike by more than 20 000 truck drivers have collapsed after unions rejected the employers’ offer of an 18 percent pay rise offer over three years, the Road Freight Employers’ Association said on Thursday.
“This [Thursday] afternoon, the unions responded that once again they do not accept the deal which met their demand of 18 percent over two years,” the employer group said.
The group acknowledged that an additional third year included the cycle meant it was effectively a three-year agreement
Fuel suppliers have started to feel the pinch as the strike entered its second week, with deliveries to pumps delayed and stations running out of certain types of fuel.
Some retailers have also reported low stocks as deliveries have been affected.
In violence in Cape Town linked to the strike on Thursday, a truck was torched and another pelted with stones near Borcherds Quarry on the N2 - bringing the number of trucks burnt and stoned in the city this week to eight .
“Two trucks were damaged [Thursday], one was set alight and another was stoned. Both incidents happened in Nyanga,” said police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Andre Traut.
Cape Chamber of Commerce president Michael Bagraim said the strike would affect everyone, but he warned that those striking would suffer first.
“Most of the strikers are breadwinners and they lose money every day that they aren’t at work and I think we as the public forget that they are part of the people that will be affected,” Bagraim said.
He said consumers would feel the pinch once prices start skyrocketing.
“Both of the parties involved here - the strikers and employers that won’t give them what they want - are in the wrong. This strike has been going on for too long now,” Bagraim said.
Executive officer for the Road Freight Employers Association, Magretia Brown-Engelbrecht, said talks had failed, despite the assistance of the CCMA and officials from the office of the minister of labour.
No further meetings with the unions have been scheduled.
Shoprite Namibia manager Melkisede Kandjii told Namibian newspaper, The Namibian, that the retailer was running low on stock, especially promotional items.
“Yes it’s a crisis,” he told the paper.
According to Shoprite spokesperson Sarita van Wyk, no branches in SA have been affected.
Cape Argus