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Reuters reports that on Thursday the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) cleared Solidarity to legally strike in a dispute with Sasol over its plan to launch a share ownership scheme exclusively to black staff.
Sasol plans to sell 25% of its local operations to mainly qualifying black employees in a R21bn deal that would be vendor-financed by the company. Solidarity called the scheme, dubbed the Sasol Khanyisa Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP), "blatant discrimination against loyal Sasol employees" as it would largely exclude white employees. Sasol defended the scheme on Thursday, saying it was not a company benefit or compensation scheme and was “specifically designed to address the ownership component of the broad-based BEE Codes and, therefore, primarily focuses on the inclusion of black employees, as defined by the Codes." Solidarity, which represents predominately white workers, said it would seek a mandate from members to strike. Solidarity CE Dirk Hermann contended that this would be the first time that white employees would be able to go on a lawful strike over exclusion based on race.
- Read this report by Joe Brock and Tiisetso Motsoeneng in full at BusinessLive
- Read Solidarity’s press statement at Solidarity News
Read Sasol’s press statement at Politicsweb
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page