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Johannesburg - A new wage offer has been tabled to junior workers in the commuter transport sector, the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) said on Thursday.
The wage negotiations focused only on junior employees, who accounted for about 9 000 workers.
"We believe the new offer is reasonable and the bulk of our money would be spent on personnel rather than service delivery," agency chief executive Tshepo Montana told a media briefing in Johannesburg.
He said the agency had offered a seven percent salary increase and an additional 1.5% salary increase subject to the implementation of "operational efficiencies".
The agency had also offered a two percent increase for housing owners allowance (HOA) and medical aid. Prasa, which is a parent company of Metrorail, also committed itself to "absorbing" fixed-term contract workers on a full time basis by September 2010.
In its agreement, the agency outlined the reduction of overtime and related costs, as well as a review of all conditions of service by the end of September this year.
Those earning in excess of R149 736 per annum would not qualify to claim overtime, said Montana.
He said the unions were not keen on the offer and had made more demands.
"They came back and asked for a further two percent salary increase from September 1, another seven percent increase for HOA and medical aid, as well as a further two percent increase for HOA and medical aid."
Earlier this month, negotiations between Prasa, the SA Transport Allied Workers' Union and the United Transport and Allied Trade Union deadlocked, with the unions given the green light to embark on a protected strike action.
Montana said Prasa was committed to finding an amicable solution but that the workers new demands were unreasonable.
- Sapa
