Rand Water on Monday said it had concluded the 2015/16 wage negotiations with trade unions, the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) and UASA.

The unions last week threatened to strike after negotiations reached a deadlock.

Samwu’s demands of a 10% increase for the lowest-paid workers, 9% for middle-income workers and 8% for supervisors were not met earlier this month.

It also demanded a 12% incentive bonus and R2 150 housing allowance across the board.

However, the unions and Rand Water agreed to increases of 9% for the lowest-paid workers, while middle-income workers would receive a 7.5% increase.

UASA spokesperson Gerhard Ueckermann told Engineering News Online that Rand Water could have saved itself a lot of time and expense if it had listened to the union’s demands at the start of the negotiations.