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Solidarity to begin strike at Sasol on Monday

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South Africa’s mainly white Solidarity union will begin a strike on Monday at petrochemicals firm Sasol over a share ownership scheme offered exclusively for black staff.

“We intend to switch off a different section of Sasol each day by means of well-laid and strategic plans,” the union said in a statement.

Under black economic empowerment rules, South African companies are required to meet quotas on black ownership, employment and procurement as part of a drive to reverse decades of exclusion under apartheid.

The energy giant has sold 25% of its local operations to qualifying black employees, a foundation and the black public in a $1.5 billion deal that has been vendor-financed by the company.

“This type of crude racial exclusion cannot be tolerated any longer. These white workers are also valuable,” Solidarity Chief Executive Dirk Hermann said in a statement.

The world leader in technology to convert coal and gas to fuel has defended the scheme.

Sasol said in a statement that the purpose of the scheme, called Sasol Khanyisa, was meant to create a “meaningful financial benefit for approximately 230 000 black shareholders, including qualifying black employees.”

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