Bloomberg News reports that the smaller of the two main trade unions at Transnet says it has called off a strike over wages.

"We have appealed to our members to go back to work tomorrow morning. In the interest of the economy, the majority has signed and we just have to release our members," SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) spokeswoman Amanda Tshemese indicated on Wednesday. The union had initially rejected its rival United National Transport Union’s (UNTU’s) acceptance of Transnet’s pay offer and said industrial action would continue until workers were assured they would not lose their jobs. UNTU reported on Monday that it had agreed a three-year deal with the company for increases of as much as 6%. Tshemese said the union still didn’t agree with the current agreement between the majority union and Transnet management and would address its issues internally. The union said it represented about a third of Transnet’s 55,827 full-time and contract staff, compared with 24,992 for UNTU. The strike, which UNTU began on 6 October with Satawu joining four days later, has crimped shipments of iron ore, coal and chrome. Fruit producers also expressed concern that their harvests would rot at the docks.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Moses Mozart Dzawu at Fin24

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page