While the cost of the strike has not been made public, it is known that the no-work, no-pay rule hit striking workers hard, especially as it occurred over the April school holidays. MGK, GWK, OVK, Senwes, Suidwes and NWK suffered strike action by hundreds of employee members from trade unions Solidarity, the Food and Allied Workers’ Union (FAWU), and the National Union of Food, Beverage, Wine, Spirits and Allied Workers (NUFBWSAW).
VKB and NTK agreed to their employees’ 8% annual wage increase across the lowest wage levels one to 11 before the strikes started, but the other co-ops and companies faced employees’ wrath for offering 6,5% to 7,5% across those wage levels. Julius Mano, national co-ordinator for NUFBWSAW, said that after two weeks of the strike, employers and employees were able to compromise on the 6,5% to 7,5% offers.
“This was a relief. But the strike’s no-work, no-pay rules had major repercussions for striking workers,” Mano said. Stefan Oberholzer, financial director for OVK, said only that he felt the striking workers had fared the worst. “It’s heartbreaking that the people who lost the most [during the strike] were the poorest people,” Oberholzer added.
Sello Baloyi, general secretary for the Grain Bargaining Council, mediating the negotiations, said that the strike played only a partial role in the agreement being reached between the parties. He said, “There were misunderstandings of the different positions of the different parties between themselves. As things became clearer, progress was made towards achieving the agreements.”
The council said that it did not yet know what the impacts of the strike were to the various parties, but that the affected co-ops would be meeting on 24 May when these figures might be revealed. “But it is obvious that both sides experienced economic impacts,” Baloyi said.
“The Grain Bargaining Council is relieved that the strike is over. Now the parties can start working on the day-to-day issues affecting their industry, such as improving labour relations, providing training, improving productivity, and implementing social responsibility projects.”
