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Cape Town - The strike by petrol attendants is only alerting both the public, the employers and the oil companies of the fact that those jobs could easily become redundant, according to Michael Bagraim, a labour law expert and chairperson of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry's human resources portfolio committee.
"The problem in South Africa is that we are behind the rest of the world in our mindset," Bagraim said to Fin24.
"However, it is a good thing, because we actually do need to ensure that people remain in jobs. We are talking about thousands of people and for each job we have in South Africa this person looks after five or six people. The knock on effect would be enormous."
The chamber did, however, warn trade unions beforehand that massive strikes by petrol attendants would put the question about the purpose of their jobs in the spotlight.
Up to 70 000 people work as petrol attendants accross the country.
Using technology would be a lot cheaper than staffing and manning the forecourts.
"Many of the garages are saying they already have the technology and it’s merely a matter of activating this process. The jobs are, in fact, in a modern world obsolete," said Bagraim.
"It is not an argument to say that people are too nervous to get out of their motor vehicles. Most people in fact already do get out of their motor vehicles to either buy something at the shop at the garage or to check that the attendant is actually doing what they asked them to do."
He emphasised that South Africans, nevertheless, need to stand together to ensure that people don’t destroy their jobs and to start exploring alternatives.
Motorists are increaslingly becoming fed up with the strike and many claim self-service pumps could also make refuelling cheaper.
According to the Fuel Retailers Association the percentage that goes to wages is, however, insignificant.
- Fin24
"The problem in South Africa is that we are behind the rest of the world in our mindset," Bagraim said to Fin24.
"However, it is a good thing, because we actually do need to ensure that people remain in jobs. We are talking about thousands of people and for each job we have in South Africa this person looks after five or six people. The knock on effect would be enormous."
The chamber did, however, warn trade unions beforehand that massive strikes by petrol attendants would put the question about the purpose of their jobs in the spotlight.
Up to 70 000 people work as petrol attendants accross the country.
Using technology would be a lot cheaper than staffing and manning the forecourts.
"Many of the garages are saying they already have the technology and it’s merely a matter of activating this process. The jobs are, in fact, in a modern world obsolete," said Bagraim.
"It is not an argument to say that people are too nervous to get out of their motor vehicles. Most people in fact already do get out of their motor vehicles to either buy something at the shop at the garage or to check that the attendant is actually doing what they asked them to do."
He emphasised that South Africans, nevertheless, need to stand together to ensure that people don’t destroy their jobs and to start exploring alternatives.
Motorists are increaslingly becoming fed up with the strike and many claim self-service pumps could also make refuelling cheaper.
According to the Fuel Retailers Association the percentage that goes to wages is, however, insignificant.
- Fin24
