Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers’ Union (Ceppwawu) and National Petroleum Employers’ Association negotiators were still locked behind closed doors at 9pm on Saturday. ”All I can say is that we are still talking,” said Ceppwawu spokesperson Keith Jacobs.
Ceppwawu and the employers’ association spent some of Saturday split into caucus meetings, after negotiations resumed at the Chamber of Mines in Johannesburg earlier in the day.
Ceppwawu remained ”very confident” and ”happy” at the way talks were going, Jacobs said.
He said ”first prize” would still be a 9,5% increase but a national bottom-line of 8,5% had been established.
Other issues on the table was a proposed increase in maternity leave from four to six months and the establishment of a standardised 40 hour working week.
Jacobs said drivers had told him they would be willing to go out and deliver petrol the minute a settlement was reached.
He said drivers told him: ”We are willing to get into the trucks now.”
Exceptional sales
Meanwhile, oil companies felt the effects of the strike on their distribution and supply capacities.
”We are feeling the impact of the strike due to the fact of exceptional sales on our side,” said Shell spokesperson Dennis Matsane.
He said the hotspot for fuel shortages had been Gauteng.
”It is our wish to resolve this issue as quickly as possible,” he said.
BP and Engen said there had been a slight improvement in petrol supplies on Saturday.
”Trucks are on the road endlessly delivering to sites,” said BP spokesperson Zipporah Mathoa.
She said the company was in catch-up mode and using contract workers to deliver the supplies.
However, ”a day lost is one too many”, she said.
Engen spokesperson Tonia Landsberg said about 10% of the company’s stations ran dry this week.
She said Engen was chasing a rolling target; as outstanding deliveries were supplied, regular orders also still needed to be delivered. – Sapa