Motorists desperate to fill up their tanks amid a petrol strike have been urged to back the union’s call for higher wages because they said the industry is milking poor South Africans.

This comes as motorists said on Tuesday that many petrol stations around Pretoria and northern Gauteng were running dry, with some posting pictures of queues forming at petrol stations, despite a 99c/litre reduction in the petrol price at midnight on Tuesday and calls to remain calm.

Clement Chitja, head of collective bargaining at the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers' Union (Ceppwawu), told Fin24 on Tuesday that it is not the union’s intention to make people suffer with petrol stations running dry.

“However, in light of the situation, it is time for people to voice their dissatisfaction at the way the employers are handling this situation,” he said.

“It is not an industry that can cry poverty,” he said. “They should be able to make up the salary difference easily."

“The increments in the CEOs’ salary are such that they can get a 26% increase when they are already earning millions,” he said. “That tells you how well the industry is doing.”

While South Africa battles high levels of poverty and unemployment, it also has one of the highest pay gaps in the world.

Union plans to meet NPEA on Thursday

Chitja said motorists should exercise calm, as the union has just resolved to meet with the National Petroleum Employers’ Association (NPEA) on Thursday.

Zimisele Majamane, deputy chair of the NPEA, told Fin24 on Monday that it doesn’t have a planned date to engage with Ceppwawu. “We are open to talk at any time,” he said.

“We put an offer in our last meeting of 18 July to the union and we believe it is fair under the current circumstances, but have not had a response,” he said. “We are waiting for them.”

Chitja said the union whose members work at South Africa's oil refineries and petrol depots - and also truck petrol to stations - are “dealing with multi-nationals here who are not sympathetic to the domestic people”.

“They are trying to make riches out of SA citizens and leave them in poverty,” he claimed.

“It is about time that we raise our voices,” he said. “We request motorists to join us through whatever means like social media to register our dismay at how employers are handling the situation.”

Chitja said Ceppwawu had not held any negotiations with NPEA, which bargains on behalf of the oil companies.

However, he said reports revealed that NPEA had met into the late hours of Monday evening to find a solution to the impasse.

With its 15 000 members, Ceppwawu is pushing for a one-year agreement for 9%, while the National Petroleum Employers’ Association (NPEA) proposed a 7% increase this year and a consumer price index plus 1% increase next year.

“We are aware that the employers association held a meeting in the afternoon,” he said. “The meeting ended late as they could not come to a proposal.”

Intimidation reports not accurate - Chitja

Regarding reports of intimidation, Chitja said while it may have appeared that way, the reality was that they were confined to a specific area about 50 metres away from the work place.

“There are large numbers of union members in the Eastern Cape,” he said. “At the refineries you get over 500 workers in one area.

“If they are confined to a 50m distance, which forms a small diameter, it creates a feeling of passers-by that they are being intimidated, when that is not necessary the case,” he said.

In Pretoria, he said there were about 50 workers there and he didn’t see any intimidation when he visited the site. “I didn’t see any such intimidation,” he said. “I gave them a briefing and requested that they remain calm.”

Intimidation by striking union members at a major petrol hub in Pretoria has brought the depot to a standstill, which has resulted in petrol stations running dry in northern Gauteng on Monday.

That is according to Fani Tshifularo, executive director at the South African Petroleum Industry Association (Sapia), in a telephonic interview with Fin24 on Monday.

“It is just specific parts of Gauteng that is affected by intimidation by union members at a depot where trucks need to load and deliver petrol,” he said.

Chitja said he told striking union members in Pretoria that it didn’t matter that the independent truckers were working as petrol will soon run dry, because he claimed the refineries were not manufacturing petrol.

However, Reuters reported on Monday that production at South Africa's oil refineries have continued despite an indefinite strike.

"Refineries continue to produce," South African Petroleum Industry Association executive director Avhapfani Tshifularo said.