Transnet workers to disrupt traffic

Johannesburg - Transnet employees are expected to march in Johannesburg on Friday morning against the parastatal's "refusal to grant workers their demands", Satawu said.

"It is our responsibility to ensure that we put maximum energy, so we don't have a strike that drags on for months," Xolani Nyamezele, Gauteng secretary for the SA Transport and Allied Workers' Union said on Thursday night.

"Also because of the arrogance Transnet is displaying, we get a feeling they have no intention to budge."

He was speaking hours after the union, along with the united ransport and Allied Trade Union (Utatu) agreed to go to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration in Johannesburg.

The meeting would start at 14:00. Satawu welcomed the development but did not anticipate process would be "quick or easy", the union's policy research officer Jane Barrett said in a statement.

Utatu's general secretary Chris de Vos hoped the mediation would help resolve the dispute "in the interest of workers, as they are losing money". There were also fears the strike could cripple the economy.

But Nyamezele believed a strike could also help put pressure on Transnet to up its 11% wage offer.

According to Barrett unions rejected the 11% increase as it was never across-the-board and would have provided less take-home pay for two thirds of workers than the previous eight percent offer.

"The allocation of spend on employment cost had simply been rearranged. In Satawu's view this was not negotiation. We are optimistic that under the auspices of the CCMA, negotiations will resume in earnest, and that agreement will be reached," she said.

The two unions would present a memorandum of demands to Transnet management at Inyanda house in Parktown.

The workers want a 15% across-the-board wage increase, permanent status for contract workers and four months maternity leave.

Before heading to Inyanda house, the group would meet at Mary Fitzgerald square in Newtown, Johannesburg and head to Premier Nomvula Mokonyane's office to present a memorandum against labour brokers, said Nyamezele. He claimed 12 000 workers would take part.

About 2 000 members of the Communication Workers' Union would also join the march to Mokonyane's office.

Johannesburg metro police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar advised motorists to avoid certain routes as traffic would be affected in the inner city.

"This is going to be a big one," he said.

Starting from Mary Fitzgerald Square around 10:00, the marchers were expected to go down Bree Street and into Simmonds Street.

After taking their memorandum to the premier's office, the protesters would join Fox Street, go north up Rissik, which becomes  Joubert and then into Hoofd Street, Braamfontein.

They would then make their way to the corner of Empire and Hillside roads in Parktown to hand a memorandum to Transnet.

"They will then return to the Mary Fitzgerald Square through Bertha Street," Minnaar said.

The march was expected to end around 15:00.

- Sapa