UPDATE: Foskor opts for mediation to end month-long strike
Conciliation process begins to resolve deadlock and re-open Richards Bay acid plant.
A MONTH of unsuccessful negotiations between Foskor’s acid division management and 400 of its employees has finally led the chemicals company to seek assistance from the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
Members of CEPPWAWU (Chemical Energy Paper Printing Wood & Allied Workers Union) put down their tools on 29 October to demand adjusted salary grading, 100% bonuses and challenged the company’s provident fund contributions.
Since then, management has agreed to change their pay structure and resolved to grant them 65% bonuses.
But the protestors refused to accept the offer and have not returned to work, forcing Foskor to shut down 90% of its operations, which has cost the company millions in lost production.
Foskor is now proposing that deductions for striking days be made over a period of 24 months starting from the end of February.
‘We are currently in the process with the assistance of the commissioner to resolve the two items in dispute and hope that through mediation, we will meet each other halfway,’ said management on Friday.
