Swaziland Plantations employees take 8% increment, strike called off

MBABANE - The indefinite strike by nearly 300 Swaziland Plantations (SP) employees has been called off after they were finally granted an eight per cent increment.

The Swaziland Agricultural, Plantations and Allied Workers Union (SAPAWU) Secretary General Archie Sayed confirmed that some employees had already resumed work.

Granted

This effectively means SP employees who earned E1 300 per month will now receive E1 404.
“All employees will return to work tomorrow morning since management has granted the workers an eight per cent increment.
“As a union, we eventually decided to accept the offer to ease the production process. Most employees were adamant that the eight per cent should be rejected but the union’s management managed to convince them into accepting the offer with intent to maintain a good employee-employer relationship that currently exists.

“However, the union will continue to discuss other grievances that were tabled by the employees with the management,” Sayed said.
The strike by Swaziland Plantations employees was in protest of a 12 per cent salary increment through the assistance of SAPAWU.
Dressed in their blue uniforms and also armed with all sorts of weapons including axes, the workers sang political songs, and demanded the increment.

The employees had threatened not to go back to work until the company meet their demand.

Argued

They argued that the E61 which they were paid per day was too little, hence they wanted more. The workers were reportedly salaried around E1 300 per month.
During the strike, one of the workers said he had worked for the company for over 26 years but he still earned less than E1 800 a month.

From the E1 300 previously earned by the staff on a monthly basis, about E250 was allegedly deducted from their salaries to pay the company’s transport.

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