According to HeraldLIVE article published on October 17, 2022, the union says its members are angry at state-owned entity's refusal to commit to no retrenchments. The SA Transport Workers Union (Satawu) has vowed to intensify the strike at the state-owned entity after its members rejected a revised 6% salary increase offer.
The offer was made on Friday, after the CCMA, which is facilitating the wage increase negotiations, intervened and proposed a 6% wage increase offer which came with no commitment on a no-retrenchment clause that the unions are pushing for.
The strike is in its second week after unions declared a wage dispute with Transnet.
Satawu deputy general secretary Anele Kiet said after taking the offer back to their members and structures over the weekend, all nine provinces rejected the offer and slammed Satawu for its silence on the no-retrenchment clause.
“We were mandated by our provinces. All nine provinces rejected the proposal of the CCMA commissioners and also they are worried that Transnet is unable to commit on the no-retrenchment clause,” Kiet said.
He said they were left with no choice but to intensify the ongoing strike as it's the only tool they have to sway Transnet in the wage talks.
“As we speak, I am in the Northern Cape and other office bearers are across the country, we are making sure that we intensify the strike and we are also considering the issue of essential services which Transnet is claiming on certain employees.
“The non-commitment on the no-retrenchment clause is worrisome and as a union we view it as Transnet's way of trying to deviate from its original mandate of assisting the government to create jobs,” Kiet said.
This is the second offer to be rejected after a 4.5% increase across the board was rejected by workers who argued it was not related to inflation.
Transnet had offered a 4.5% across-the-board increase in the current year which would be implemented from October 1, a 5.3% increase in the 2023/2024 financial year and another 5.3% increase in the 2024/2025 financial year, before the CCMA intervened to push the offer to 6%.
Transnet spokesperson Ayanda Shezi told TimesLIVE on Sunday they were still awaiting the outcome after tabling the latest offer.
“We await the outcome from the CCMA commissioners on their engagement with the unions on the revised three-year offer. It would be unfortunate if the strike action were to continue, as it is not in the interests of employees or the company,” Shezi said.
