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Metrorail strike put on hold

Cape Town - A possible strike by Cape Town Metrorail train drivers has been halted for now after a court ruling in this regard was made on Friday afternoon.

"The interim relief was granted to Metrorail for no strike action to be taken from Monday," said United Transport and Allied Trade Union (Utata) general secretary Chris de Vos.

"Final judgment will be made on Thursday."

The Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) applied to the Labour Court to have the Cape Town strike declared unlawful.

On Thursday, Prasa and the unions would have to submit full arguments on the matter.

Utatu and the SA Transport and Allied Workers' Union (Satawu) embarked on strike action in Cape Town earlier this week to protest against changes to their shift roster.

Most Utatu members had returned to work by Thursday, but Satawu indicated its members would strike again on Sunday, which would then have impacted on Monday morning services.

Utatu members were set to strike from midnight on Sunday.

On Friday, De Vos said the union was disappointed that the resolution to this issue had to be made in a courtroom.

"We should rather sit around the table and resolve the problem."

However, Satawu regional secretary Thandubuntu Roto said that his union had in any case already resolved the issue out of court with management.

He said they had called off their strike after it was agreed upon not to implement the new roster.

"Management agreed with us to go to the old roster. We withdrew our strike."

However, Prasa spokesperson Nana Zenani said that "very very intense negotiations" around the new roster system had already taken place in May.

"We cannot go back to the old roster. We had an agreement. That agreement was reached through negotiation."
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