South Africa: `We can`t say we are reaching an agreement`

15 July, 2009 in South Africa

source: IOL
July 14 2009 at 11:15PM

Talks to end a strike in the construction sector continued late into Tuesday night with no agreement in sight, the National Union of Mineworkers said.

“Our negotiations are still going on, but we can’t say we are reaching an agreement,” spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said shortly after 10pm.

“We are trying what we can to reach an agreement, but there are problematic areas here and there.”

A “sticky point” was that employers wanted unions to agree not to go on strike until August 2010, after the Fifa Soccer World Cup.

“They want to use that as a bargaining chip: We can give you 12 percent if you give away your right to strike. The issue of strike action, it’s not negotiable. It is a constitutional right,” he [continue reading]