Pretoria - Not a single passenger train will run in South Africa on Monday, meaning that 2.9m commuters throughout the country will be stranded.
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) says commuters will have to make alternative transport arrangements because train services have to be suspended as Metrorail and long-distance passenger train Shosholoza Meyl’s staff are on strike from Monday.
Prasa is the controlling company of Metrorail and Shosholoza Meyl.
On Sunday Prasa senior manager Tony Gamef said that a week or so ago Prasa had begun issuing warnings about the impending strike. It was to be hoped that commuters had been able to make plans in time. Unfortunately the situation was outside Prasa’s control. Without the staff, the train drivers, guards, etc, the trains simply could not operate.
Gamef said the strike had forced Prasa’s trains to a standstill.
About 800 people work for Shosholoza Meyl and as many as 10 000 at Metrorail.
About 84% of Prasa’s personnel would participate in the strike.
The unions that are striking are demanding increases of 15%.
On Sunday afternoon United Transport & Allied Trade Union (Utatu) general secretary Chris de Vos confirmed that the strike would go ahead.
The other trade union in the dispute is the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu).
Satawu spokesperson Tinzi Lubabalo said that Prasa management's offer of 8% to employees was ludicrous. The union had been negotiating since March and now there was no turning back.
Both unions are currently also involved in a strike at Transnet, which has so far lasted a week. On Sunday afternoon they had a meeting with Transnet in an effort to resolve the dispute.
Gamef says the unions’ timing is questionable.
With only weeks to go before the World Cup the country's train services are at a standstill. And there is still no clarity as to when the strikes will end.
Satawu senior spokesperson Jane Barrett however said that there was no sinister motive behind the current wave of strikes.
There are agreements with employers in terms of which wage negotiations start in March every year. If the negotiations are not concluded by April, a dispute is declared. If the dispute is not resolved, strikes follow.
It was unfortunate that the World Cup was around the corner, but that was simply a coincidence, she said.
Lubabalo said the union's demands were not exorbitant. He reckoned employers could afford the increases demanded.
Prasa’s labour costs, he said, were less than 34% of the company's operating costs. The company was also subsidised by the state. Prasa had no grounds to say it could not afford the increases.
Barrett said the union was hoping to reach a settlement with Transnet and Prasa soon. But for now it had no option but to strike.
Transnet meanwhile said that the damage caused to its trains and infrastructure by strikers has already run to R24m.
- Sake24.com
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