ArcelorMittal South Africa has reached a wage agreement with employee unions, bringing to an end two weeks of strike action at its operations.
The steelmaker on Thursday announced it had settled its wage dispute with the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and Solidarity.
The deal comes just days after the company lost its bid to have the Labour Court interdict Numsa’s strike at all of its plants.
The agreement is for a 6.5% increase on all remuneration elements, plus a R5 000 once-off ex-gratia payment. The deal applies to all bargaining unit employees and will be backdated to 1 April.
"The agreement that has been reached with the unions is testament to the commitment of all parties to move the business forward rather than getting stuck in an unfortunate wage dispute that does not serve anybody, especially our employees," said ArcelorMittal South Africa’s CEO Kobus Verster.
"We will continue to build on the progress we have made in the past few years to revive and strengthen the business, which includes continuously improving our cost competitiveness in the market and maintaining stable and reliable operations."