The main labour union at South Africa’s state port and rail company said it will continue talks next week aimed at resolving a wage dispute and averting a potential strike.

Negotiations will take place on May 14 and 15, the United National Transport Union (UNTU) said in a statement in Johannesburg, the commercial capital.

UNTU, which represents more than half of the 46 000 employees at Transnet, rejected an offer by the company to increase pay by 6% over the next two years and 5.5% in the third year, and demanded a 10% raise. The smaller South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union accepted the pay offer in March.

“We remain hopeful that Transnet will give due consideration to these wage proposals, helping avert industrial action that could further destabilize an already fragile economy,” UNTU said in the statement.

Transnet’s rail and ports facilities are crucial to South African exports of bulk commodities and any work stoppage would deal a blow to South Africa’s economy, which grew at an average rate of less than 1% over the past decade. A strike at Transnet in 2022 was estimated by the Minerals Council South Africa to have cost mining companies about R815-million a day.