South Africa’s transport system faces gridlock as unions pledge national strike action in a dispute over the restructuring of a state-owned transport company. Talks with management broke down last Friday.

Members of three trade unions, the ITF-affiliated South Africa Transport and Allied Workers' Union (Satawu), the United Transport and Allied Trade Union and the United Association of South Africa, have joined forces in the dispute, which started on 10 February. The unions are opposed to Transnet’s plans to implement restructuring proposals unilaterally; this could see parts of its core businesses sold off, potentially threatening thousands of jobs.

During negotiations on 17 February, management failed to bring a written response to the unions’ demands – which include a call for full consultation with workers over proposals and a commitment to abide by agreements. Transnet’s lead negotiator, Pradeed Maharai, claimed that no new response would be brought, as the company’s position had already been made clear.

As a result, the first of a series of national strikes, involving workers of Metrorail, Spoornet and Transwerk, will go ahead on 6 March. This builds on a rolling programme of regional action that took place on 15, 17 and 20 February; regional strikes are also taking place today.

The union has demanded that Transnet’s lead negotiator be removed from the negotiating process and requested that a third party mediator be called in to take the talks forward. Transnet has conceded to mediation.

Randall Howard, Satawu’s General Secretary commented: “This is a management that obviously believes there is a monopoly of wisdom that belongs invariably to them; workers are nothing but the pushers of wheelbarrows. Workers resent that view and they want to contribute to the process of transforming this company.”
 
Source: International Transport Workers' Federation