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Johannesburg - A mediation process aimed at resolving the wage dispute between Transnet and labour unions was expected to start on Friday, the United Transport and Allied Trade Union (Utatu) said on Thursday night.
General secretary Chris de Vos said this following a meeting with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) on Thursday afternoon.
"Mediation has not yet started. What we did today (Thursday), the commission had a sitting with management this morning so they can brief him (the CCMA commissioner), and we met him this afternoon.
"We'll now meet again tomorrow (Friday) morning at the CCMA and continue over the weekend, as we believe we must stop this and resolve the issue as soon as possible in the interest of workers, as they are losing money," de Vos said.
Thursday's meeting followed a letter the union and the Federation of Unions of SA sent to CCMA director Nerine Khan on Wednesday, asking her to "assist us by conciliating the negotiations between Utatu and Transnet to avoid a drawn-out strike that could cripple the economy.
"We have to put own interests aside now and act in the interest of the workers, the company and the country... the longer it continues the more impatient and angry people become," he said.
Transnet human resources group executive Pradeep Maharaj told Sapa the parastatal hoped the mediation process "will get us to the table in the next few days".
"The terms to mediate the dispute have begun through the auspices of the CCMA. We hope that will get us to the table in the next few days, at which point we will be able to resolve [the dispute]," he said.
Utatu, the SA Transport and Allied Workers' Union (Satawu) and the SA Railway and Harbour Workers' Union (Sarhwu), who make up 85% of Transnet workers, went on strike after rejecting an 11% wage increase offer.
The strike has affected freight rail, rail engineering, ports, port terminals and pipelines.
On Wednesday, a train transporting petrol and diesel derailed between Durban and Johannesburg, causing a huge diesel spillage, an apparent act of sabotage by strikers.
An ore transport line had also been closed down while some Metrorail services had been affected by striking Transnet railway station operators.
Metrorail in Gauteng decided to cancel its Pienaarspoort line services for the duration of the strike.
"This means all trains will turn around at Eerstefabrieke and Mamelodi Gardens respectively," Metrorail said in a statement.
"Customers already in possession of weekly tickets to Pienaarspoort will be transported by buses from Mamelodi Gardens Station to Pienaarspoort."
Metrorail was partly affected by the Transnet strike because some railway station operators were employed by Transnet.
Acts of intimidation against workers who still reported for work were reported in some areas, said De Vos.
"Some of them do belong to unions, but they cannot afford to strike, and there are also those really loyal workers who do not believe in strike action."
Utatu received reports of intimidation in Bloemfontein on Thursday morning, he said.
In several cases, the vehicles of employees reporting for work had been vandalised.
"Fortunately, so far, nobody has been injured," said De Vos.
- Fin24.com
