Desert Street in Homelake was a hive of activity this morning (June 14) following a breakdown in wage negotiations between RCL Foods and employees represented by, among others, the Progressive Workers Union of South Africa (Pwusa).

A crowd of protesters, almost 750 strong, danced and chanted “Ten point five” at the one end of the street while private security personnel in riot gear looked on.

Also read: Wage negotiations at RCL Foods’ Kdp, Rftn branches

Xolani Lefu, the deputy president of Pwusa, spoke to the News on scene.

“We started negotiations in March asking for an increase from R5 100 to R10 500. RCL Foods came with a counter-offer of 4%, which they then increased to 6%. But we were not mandated by the workers to accept this offer. We were negotiating in good faith but after yesterday we had no choice but to lay down tools.

They basically wanted to increase salaries from R5 100 to R6 100 but when we took it back to the workers they declined,” explained Lefu.

Earlier this week RCL Foods commented from their head office in KwaZulu-Natal saying, “RCL Foods remains committed to ongoing engagement with our employees to reach a wage deal that will strike a balance between the interests of all of our stakeholders, including consumers and employees”.

Simon Munyai, President of the South African Industrial Commercial and Allied Workers Union (Saicwu) who also represents employees in the negotiations, said workers at the Krugersdorp facility have not gone on strike.