Agricultural research and support is to be hampered on Thursday as hundreds of agricultural researchers and members of the trade union Solidarity embark on strike action at the Agricultural Research Council (ARC).
The trade union stated that the action could mean that diagnoses of animal diseases would not be done and warned that there may be outbreaks of diseases that cannot be identified.
According to the union the action would commence with a protest action at the ARC Institute at Irene. It is expected that the strike would last up to three weeks.
Solidarity members are striking because they argue that their average salary increases for the past three years has been only 4%. This year the ARC is offering increases of 7% to 9%, while the employees are demanding 12%.
The union said that the offer would not compensate for the shortfall of the past few years.
It also objects to the fact that the service conditions are not on a par with those of the public service. Solidarity is the largest trade union at the ARC, with 1 000 of the 2 600 ARC employees as members.
Meanwhile, the union has also announced that a certificate had been received to commence strike action at South African steel producer Iscor over a wage dispute.
Solidarity has warned that a strike action at Iscor could mean immediate losses to the company.
The union said it was getting a final mandate from its members and a final decision on the strike would be taken by the end of the week. In addition, Solidarity announced that strike action could begin at Sasol Mining next week.
Last-minute negotiations are expected to take place on Friday at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. Solidarity warned that if the negotiations fail, a certificate for a strike would be issued on Friday and the trade union would begin with a strike action on Wednesday.
Solidarity members have already voted in favour of a strike at Sasol. Employees of the ARC are to go on strike on Thursday at the Irene Institute, while the rest of the ARC institutes embark on a go-slow and an embargo on overtime.
The union added that for the next three weeks members at a different ARC institute would strike every day. A march to parliament and mass action in Pretoria are being planned for later in the month.
Attempts by I-Net Bridge to get comment from the ARC, Iscor and Sasol Mining proved fruitless. – I-Net Bridge