The four unions involved in the road freight strike have rejected the Road Freight Employers’ Association’s (RFEA) latest offer, the company said on Thursday.
The RFEA initially offered 7,5% for 2011 and again in 2012, then upped that offer to 8,5% over both years, before again increasing it to 9% the first year and 8,5% the second year, spokesperson Magretia Brown-Engelbrecht in a statement.
The unions rejected the offer on Thursday afternoon, she said.
The unions have demanded a 10% pay rise for 2011 and 10% for 2012.
Professional Transport Workers’ Union (PTWU) general secretary Reckson Baloyi earlier erroneously said the offer had increased to 9% for both years.
Clarifying the figures later on Thursday, he said the union was caucusing with its members on the way forward.
The other unions could not immediately be reached for comment.
About 65 000 workers from the Transport and Allied Workers’ Union of South Africa, PTWU, the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union and the Motor Transport Workers Union are on strike.
Two trucks burned
The strike began with a go-slow on Sunday, but workers across the country downed tools on Monday.
Two trucks were burned near the Irene train station in Tshwane and 28 people were arrested on Thursday as the strike entered its fourth day.
Pretoria police spokesperson Warrant Officer Duane Lightfoot said the strikers arrived at the Irene train station then went to Botha Avenue where they forced the two trucks off the road and looted them before setting the vehicles on fire.
The 28 people arrested were taken to the Lyttelton police station. They would be charged with arson and attempted murder.
Incidents of intimidation have been reported throughout the week with non-striking truckers beaten and their trucks looted and burned.
More than 20 trucks have been damaged, 16 people injured and 32 arrested.
The South African Petroleum Industry Association (SAPIA) executive director Avhapfani Tshifularo said reports of petrol pumps running dry were received on Thursday.
He said petrol stations generally received their supplies later on the same day.
“There are still some challenges of sporadic intimidation persisting and this is causing a challenge to supply,” he said.
“It is likely to be like this for the duration of the strike.”
Delivery challenges
Eskom said it had enough coal — it had a 40-day stockpile — but had experienced some delivery challenges.
On average, it received less than a third of its coal deliveries by road.
It was monitoring the situation daily.
Food and grocery deliveries were not severely affected. A spokesperson for Pioneer Foods said there were no problems to report.
Pick n Pay’s supply chain director, Burger van der Merwe, said its shops were “largely unaffected” by the strike.
“The company has extensive contingency plans in place to ensure that the service to our stores and customers are acceptable during the strike,” he said.
“Store deliveries from the company’s distribution centres are unaffected, but a limited number of suppliers are finding it difficult to deliver directly to stores.”
Cash-in-transit drivers were among the striking workers, sparking concerns that ATMs would run out of cash. Capitec Bank said if the strike persisted for too long, the flow of cash in the economy would be hampered.
Neither Standard Bank nor First National Bank was experiencing any problems. — Sapa