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Monday, December 1, 2008.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon O'Donnell.

Making headlines today:

On Sunday, State-owned South African Airways said that the labour union had called off a strike after the two parties reached agreement over the outsourcing of the carrier's call centre staff.

Dozens of SAA workers had walked out over the weekend. They joined a march organised by the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union.

But after negotiations earlier on Sunday, SAA and Satawu signed an agreement. The airline declared it wouldn't outsource the disputed call centre.

SAA said in a statement that it had undertaken to halt the outsourcing of its Voyager and Reservations call centres to Dimension Data, pending further discussions with labour.

SAA‘s flight schedule was undeterred by the two-day walkout.

Petrochemicals producer Sasol is planning to go ahead with its share repurchase programme, despite current global financial difficulties.

CEO Pat Davies said the board would take into account the current circumstances. He indicated that the company's financials, balance sheet, and cash flow were strong and could probably afford to buy back shares. But, he said Sasol would do so with great circumspect, and take the current and very volatile conditions into account.

By September this year, Sasol had repurchased about 6,01% of its issued ordinary share capital, excluding its black economic-empowerment deal.

Also making headlines:

Suppliers to ArcelorMittal South Africa express outrage over a directive stipulating that all outstanding orders be reconfirmed.
Mandisi Mpahlwa says the DTI could improve the implementation of BEE programmes.
The World Trade Organisation's negotiating texts are being prepared for an anticipated ministerial meeting.
And, the Innovation Fund backs climate change mitigation projects.

That's a round up of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories please visit engineeringnews.co.za.