A South African strike over wages entered a third day on Wednesday after shutting down one petrol refinery, partially hobbling another and affecting pharmaceutical and packaging companies.
State-owned PetroSA shut its 36 000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Mossel Bay gas-to-liquid plant on Tuesday, saying it had stock to supply Mossel Bay for the next three weeks.
United States oil major Chevron’s 100 000bdp refinery in Cape Town said some of its workers were on strike but that operations were normal.
”Chevron’s operations have been marginally affected by this industrial action, but we are, however, continuing to supply product to our customers,” the company said in a statement.
The strike kicked off on Monday as more than 20 000 workers downed tools at companies in the pharmaceutical, tissue, glass and cardboard industries, the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers’ Union (Ceppwawu) said.
Africa’s top generic drug maker Aspen; rival Adcock Ingram, a unit of Tiger Brands; the continent’s biggest packaging group Nampak; US-based hygiene group Kimberley-Clarke; and glass firm Consol among other smaller companies have been hit, Ceppwawu has said.
Welile Nolingo, the secretary general of the union, said the strike would continue until the union’s wage demands were met.
He said union members at other refineries were expected to join the strike after Ceppwawu rejected a fresh wage offer presented by the petroleum industry on Friday.
Other petrol refiners in Africa’s biggest economy include Sasol, the world’s biggest coal-to-fuels maker and petrochemical group, which runs a 107 000bpd Natref refinery, and Engen, which operates the 180 000bpd refinery in Durban.
Nolingo said he would address workers at Sasol’s plant on Wednesday with a view to encouraging them to down their tools.
He said he also expected workers to strike at the country’s largest refiner, Sapref, a 50-50 joint venture between Shell and BP, which produces 180 000 bpd.
The union last Thursday issued a 48-hour strike notice after employers in the various sectors failed to meet its demand for a 10% wage increase.
Employers from the various sectors were offering wage increases ranging from 6,5% to 8%, the union said. — Reuters