ANA reports that the United Association of SA (Uasa) on Monday said the 74 cents per litre of petrol increase and almost R1 per litre of diesel increase that workers will pay as from Wednesday, combined with the increase in toll gate fees that came into effect on Friday, would have a negative effect on the economy.  

The trade union’s spokesperson Stanford Mazhindu said:  "Uasa is far from happy with these developments.  Not only will this increase the cost of travelling, but the ripple effect on the prices of consumer goods will deplete workers’ finances and buying power even more."  The trade union said that coupled with the carbon tax, which will come into effect on 1 June this year and is expected to add another 30 cents to the fuel levy, workers and poor people will be hit the hardest.  "The resulting higher costs of travelling will make it even harder for the employed to get to work and for unemployed job seekers to travel to job interviews – a worrying point given our sky-high unemployment rate," said Mazhindu.

• The original of this short report is at Business Report

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