OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 8.00pm.
MEMBERS of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA will return to work on Monday after eight out of nine regions endorsed a wage package offered by employers. The ninth region is to meet to discuss the package on Monday.
Numsa spokesman Peter Dantjie said workers would return to work on Monday and called on employers not to victimise strikers.
The SA Motor Industry Employers Association and the union have an in-principle agreement that as from 1999 annual wage negotiations will be based on actual rates of pay and not minimum rates of pay. This was the major hurdle to an agreement during the drawn-out negotiations, with Samiea refusing to compromise on this point until the final day of talks.
Petrol attendents will get an increase of 4,5%, effective immediately. This will rise to an increase of 8,5% within a year. A new minimum wage floor of R5 per hour was set for petrol attendants and cleaners. An increase of 8% to 10% was agreed to for workers on grades one to eight.
The agreement also states that an Industrial Policy Forum will be set up immediately to deal with transformation and restructuring in the industry.
The union said two of its members had been killed during the strike, about 100 people injured and about 1000 workers arrested and charged. Union lawyers will take up the cases of those who have been charged this week.