Johannesburg, July 13 (DPA) A strike by workers at several World Cup stadiums in South Africa entered its sixth day Monday amid signs that a resolution might be close at hand.
Around 70,000 construction workers at five of 10 World Cup stadiums and several other key infrastructure projects downed tools last Wednesday over pay.
The workers, who earn on average 2,500 rand a month (around 224 dollars), are demanding a 13-per-cent wage increase.
From an initial 10.4-per-cent increase, the building contractors reverted last week with an improved offer of 11.5 per cent, which the unions have put to their members.
“The information we are getting (from workers) is that it is an improvement but that there are still some outstanding issues,” Shane Choshane, a spokesman for the biggest union representing the workers, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), said.
The unions would finalise their position before returning to talks with the employers Tuesday, Choshane said.
On Monday, hundreds workers continued their protest outside the new Moses Mabhida stadium in the port city of Durban.
Five of ten World Cup stadiums, a new airport in Durban, the Gautrain fast train being built to link Johannesburg airport to the city’s Sandton business district and new power stations are all affected by the strike.
Four of the affected stadiums are being built from scratch and one, Soccer City in Soweto that will host the opening game and final, is undergoing a major upgrade.
They are all between 75 and 90 per cent completed.
The World Cup local organizing committee said at the outset of the strike it was “confident” the stadiums would remain on schedule.
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