Members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) marched to the Sasol Head Office in Rosebank to deliver a memorandum of demands pertaining to wage increases on 8 August.
The workers from Sasol’s coal mines in Secunda and Sasolburg, who have been on strike for about two weeks, are demanding a R12 500 monthly salary for entry-level workers and a R3 500 adjustment to the salaries of those in higher income brackets.
Addressing disgruntled employees who had travelled in numerous buses to Rosebank, Amcu president, Joseph Mathunjwa said the apartheid structure used by Sasol to pay their workers had to be dismantled. “We are confident that this strike will bring sanity to a company that made over R202-billion in turnover in 2014, and over R185-billion in turnover in 2015,” he said.
“The 2016 results show healthy profits and we demand that a share of wages be increased to reflect the good performance espoused in the company’s financial records.”
Rejecting the 7 per cent increase offered by Sasol, Mathunjwa said the inequality between the income of the petroleum giant’s CEO and its lowest paid workers was shocking.
Alex Anderson, head of Group Media Relations at Sasol said Sasol Mining held wage negotiations annually with their trade union partners. He said, to date, the petrochemical giant has held successful talks with Ceppwawu, Solidarity, Num and Sacwu, and that all trade unions have signed the wage agreement.
“While Amcu has asked for a minimum wage of R12 500 per month for its members, the packages for our unionised employees at Sasol Mining are already above this amount,” explained Anderson.
“Our entry-level employees at our mining operations earn a total package of R15 895, including monthly travel allowances.” He added that the company had made provisions to ensure safe and stable operations during the strike and that they would continue to monitor the situation.
“As mentioned yesterday [Thursday], we are due to meet with Amcu today [Friday],” said Anderson.
“We will continue to engage Amcu to bring a swift and amicable resolution to this matter.”
The union has given Sasol a week to respond to their demands.
Also read:
WATCH: Mine workers march to Sasol’s head office in Rosebank
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