Over 6,000 white workers at South Africa’s petrochemicals firm Sasol have started a three-week strike. They are protesting what they call a ‘racist’ share scheme by the company.
South Africa’s white dominated workers union says the strike is over exclusion of white workers from owning shares in Sasol.
The Solidarity Union has 6,300 members at Sasol’s local operations. Sasol is however offering a share ownership scheme exclusively to it’s black staff.
South Africa is hoping to reverse the damage caused by the apartheid regime where blacks were excluded from important ownership schemes.
The country’s black economic empowerment rules requires local companies to meet quotas on black ownership, employment and procurement.
Sasol was just responding to that but white South Africans working at the company say the scheme is bad. But Solidarity Union says the policy is discriminatory and must change.
An official of the union Dirk Hermann told the BBC “The company is in the middle of a scheduled three-week maintenance programme. The union has chosen to go on strike at the same time to ensure that the effects of the strike are felt.”
Sasol is world leader in converting coal and gas to fuel. It signaled its intention to scale up its black ownership levels in South Africa last year.
Source: Africafeeds.com
