South African unionists on Monday accepted a wage offer, paying the way to end a three-week strike in the metal and engineering sector.

The offer was made to the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) and Solidarity by the employer body -- Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa (SEIFA).

The offer includes a three-year salary agreement which sees salary increases of eight percent to 10 percent in the first year, 7.5 percent to 10 percent in the second year and seven percent to 10 percent in the third year, according to Solidarity spokesperson Marius Croucamp.

The NUMSA, which spearheaded the strike, confirmed the acceptance of the offer. According to sources close to the negotiations, both sides agreed that section 37 of the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council collective agreement would remain in place, with a provision that existing company-level agreements stay in force.

Section 37 protects employers from having to engage in substantive negotiations at plant level, once a deal has been concluded on wages and related conditions of employment at national level.

More than 220,000 NUMSA members downed tools on July 1 in a fresh round of labour unrest, demanding a 12 percent increase in wages across the board and 1,000 rand (about 93 U.S. dollars) in housing allowance. But later the workers lowered their demand to a 10 percent increase.