BHP ups wage offer to end strike

BHP Billiton has raised its wage offer for striking workers at the Hillside aluminium smelter, a National Union of Metalworkers （Numsa） spokesman said yesterday.

"The employer wants a four-year contract with an 8,5% increase in the first year and the last three years it will be inflation plus 2%," Numsa spokesman Mbuso Ngubane said.

Ngubane said the strike at the aluminium unit would continue and the union would consult its members today to consider the company's new offer.