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14 July, 2008
Unlike last summer, ICEM affiliate Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU) of South Africa is reaching settlement with employer groups in several industrial sectors. A strike by 5,500 furniture workers who have taken industrial action is the only exception to date. The union is, or has been in recent months, bargaining on behalf of 40,000 workers in some 11 industrial sectors.
Last summer, nearly all of the union’s sectors, ranging from petroleum, plastics, industrial chemicals, to paper, packaging, and wood products took strike actions. So far, in bargaining that started in April with employers’ associations, agreements have been reached in petroleum, pulp and paper, pharmaceutical, paper packaging, and plastics.
The agreements exceed, or at least match, South Africa’s current inflation rate of 10.5%. CEPPWAWU General Secretary Welile Nolingo said, “If there are to be further strikes, it will not exceed more that two or three sectors.”
CEPPWAWU Gen. Sec. Welile Nolingo
CEPPWAWU’s furniture-making members, employed at some six factories of Steinhoff International subsidiaries and spin-off companies now owned by ABSA Capital, struck on 1 July in a wage reopener. The union filed the necessary 48-hour strike notice with South Africa’s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA), but the employers’ association is challenging that as an illegal strike. CEPPWAWU is refuting that through the legal process.
Employers are offering only 8%, and are seeking major pension changes, and restrictions on union leave.
In the Tissue and Allied sector, the stalemate can be seen as differences between the two major companies in that sector, Nampac and Kimberly-Clark. Nampac is willing to offer a pay increase matching the inflation rate of 10.5%, but US-based Kimberly-Clark refuses to move beyond 9%. Some 2,000 CEPPWAWU members are employed in Tissue and Allied.
In the glass sector, an agreement appears imminent for 2,500 workers for a 2008 pay increase of 11%. The major employers there include Consol, Nampak Wiegand Glass, and Glass of Africa.
In the Industrial Chemicals sector, union leadership was waiting last week for a mandate from chemical workers for the next step. Some 13,000 workers are employed at plants of Sasol, Dow Chemical, PetroSA, and others. The union and employers’ association are close on wages at 12%. CEPPWAWU also is seeking the collective agreement to be extended to workers of labour agencies, with all temporary and casual workers to be made permanent employees after working 45 days in a three-year cycle.
Agreements are not in place for the Fast Moving Consumer Goods sector, Sasol Mines, and the Sawmilling and Fibre and Particle Board Sectors.
In agreements that have been concluded, some 6,000 paperworkers, primarily employed at Sappi and Mondi mills, agreed to 12% wage increases on 27 June. CEPPWAWU and the Pulp and Paper Employers’ Association also agreed to minimum salary levels of R4,660-per-month, and a shift allowance of 6% above basic pay.
In Paper Packaging, wage increases of 11.5% took effect 1 July. Paper converting workers also won three-month maternity leave language, as well as an annual bonus of 4.33% of basic pay, and study leave of ten days per annum. A severance formula of two weeks pay for each year of work service also was achieved. CEPPWAWU covers 3,000 workers in this sector, with Nampak and Mondi Packaging serving as the major employers.
In the Petroleum sector, agreement was also reached for salaries to increase by 12%. Employers include BP, Sasol, Chevron’s Caltex, and PetroSA. Some 3,000 workers are covered in that sector. In Plastics, a 10.4% increase was won across the board with employers Consol Plastics, Nampak Plastics, and Transpeco.
In the Pharmaceutical sector, where 3,000 workers are employed by such companies as Pfizer, Aspen, and Adcock Ingram, a 12% increase was gained.
All of CEPPWAWU’s one-year sector agreements expired on 1 July, with the exception of the furniture one, a three-year accord with wage reopeners each year.