Possible strike over share scheme

TRADE union Solidarity said yesterday that it would begin meetings with its members at energy and chemical company Sasol in order to obtain its mandate regarding a possible strike at the company owing to alleged exclusion based on race. This is after Sasol announced at the end of last year that its broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) share scheme, Inzalo, will be replaced by a new empowerment scheme, Khanyisa, which did not make provision for white employees. The energy company has stood its ground, saying it will not change the prerequisites for inclusion in the scheme despite the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, in a historical ruling earlier this year, giving the trade union permission to strike due to the exclusion based on race in the workplace. Deon Reyneke, Solidarity’s deputy general secretary, said that Sasol chief executive Stephen Cornell reiterated that it would not change or amend its inclusion measures with regard to Khanyisa.