Mister Sweet strike ends: Workers to return to work next week

The 11-week strike at the Mister Sweet plant in Germiston has ended. Archive photo: Kimberly Mutandiro / GroundUp

More than 300 workers from Premier’s Mister Sweet branch in Germiston will return to work on 11 November, after negotiations on Friday brought their 11-week strike to an end.

The Simunye Workers Forum said the strikers had agreed to Premier’s initial offer of a 7% increase for operators and 6% for general workers during the current year, and of 6% for operators and 5% for general workers in 2025 and in 2026.

They had initially demanded a minimum wage of R19,500 a month for the highest paid workers.

During the long strike, several casual workers were badly injured in accidents. There were also reports of casual workers sleeping on company premises to keep up with production pressure.

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“We were faced with a situation where the festive season is fast approaching, and we had to sign a deal under pressure. People need to make money for their families for December and have school fees to think about for January,” said Jacob Potlaki from the Simunye Workers Forum. He said some workers had already returned to work last week.

Potlaki said the Forum was disappointed that Premier had failed to meet their demands but had spent money on a failed court interdict to try to break the strike in September. He also accused the company of paying casual workers hired through a labour broker wages of R3,000 per week or R12,000 per month, which is far more than the agreed-upon three-year increments.

Premier has denied this.

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Some workers told GroundUp that they are not happy with the outcome of the strike. A worker, nearing retirement, said she has no choice but to go back to work because she has lost lots of money during the strike. “It’s as if we have been striking for nothing because none of our demands were met. We feel that the company has taken advantage of us by sticking to its old offer, knowing that we now desperately need money,” she said.

Another worker said his rent is now in arrears, which has forced him to go back to work. “This has been a long and painful strike, and all for nothing. But there is nothing else any of us can do but agree to go back to work,” the worker said.

Premier’s spokesperson Siobhan O’Sullivan said the 1 November wage agreement was backdated to January and workers would return on 11 November.

This article was originally published on GroundUp.

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