Employers say they're still at the bargaining table

The National Petroleum Employers’ Association (NPEA) denied walking out of wage talks on Friday.

“We are still here. We are still in session,” said spokesperson Mxolisi Ratsibe.

“We did not walk out of negotiations.”

Earlier, the spokesperson for the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers’ Union (Ceppwawu), Simon Mofokeng, said employers had walked out of wage talks “when we put in a counter offer of 9.5% increase across the board”.

The union are demanding, among other things, a wage increase of 11% to 13%, a total ban on labour brokers and a minimum wage of R6 000.

It also wanted employers to address the number of working hours, the shift allowance, compassionate leave and maternity leave.

Mofokeng said employers had not addressed these issues in previous talks.

Workers in the sector went on strike two weeks ago, leading to fuel shortages in parts of Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo.

On Thursday, the SA Petroleum Industry Association (Sapia) said it had seen there had been an improvement in fuel deliveries.

Sapia said it viewed the employers’ offer as “reasonable”. - Sapa