The sugar industry is expected to stabilise following the end of a damaging strike by members of the Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU) on Friday.
More than 5 500 workers returned to work today after two weeks of wage negotiations.  This will be a relief to sugar farmers who have had a bad start to the season.

Farmers have had to bear the brunt of the delays, with many farmers losing burnt cane that was lying in loading zones and not being delivered. Cane has to be  milled within a week of harvesting or it is lost.

It was estimated there was at least 4 000 tons of cane waiting to be transported to the mills.

The strike affected operations on the North Coast, with work at Tongaat Hulett and the Darnall, Maidstone and Gledhow Mills coming to a standstill.
On Friday morning Tongaat Hulett workers apparently marched through the Tongaat CBD, terrorizing pupils on their way to school.
Although details of the final agreement between employers and workers have not yet been released, FAWU apparently agreed to a 10% increase of the lowest-earning employees  and increases of nine percent and 8.75 percent respectively for higher band earners.
This is slightly less than the 11,5% they initially demanded.