Satawu says Transnet strike will continue, wage offer rejected

THE SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) says the Transnet workers’ strike will continue this week as no resolutions were reached in talks at the bargaining council last week.

At the bargaining council, Transnet offered a 4.5% across-the-board increase in the current year, which would have been implemented from October 1, 2022. This would have been followed by a 5.3% increase in the 2023/24 financial year.

The offer also included a 4.5% increase in the medical aid allowance in 2022/23, which would be adjusted in line with the across-the-board increase in the subsequent two years.

Satawu said the proposal was below inflation and therefore it was rejected.

“Our members feel that accepting anything below inflation will be to the detriment of their livelihoods. They will accept anything above inflation.”

Satawu general-secretary Jack Mazibuko said the union also felt accepting a retrenchment clause suggested that they would be deviating from their mandate to advance workers’ interests.

“Transnet would also be deflecting from its objective to deliver public good, as opposed to the accumulation of profits at the expense of workers,” said Mazibuko.

Meanwhile, ActionSA has called for an urgent resolution to what it has dubbed a “job-killing” strike.

The party has called on all stakeholders involved in the protracted Transnet strike to find an urgent resolution to this crisis, which is estimated to be costing the economy approximately R1 billion a day.

“While we understand the impact on the rise of the cost of living on Transnet employees, we urge the unions to consider the interests of their fellow citizens, especially in the context of the financial limitations faced by Transnet,” said ActionSA president Herman Mashaba.

He said he sympathised with Transnet workers who, like all South Africans, faced a cost-of-living crisis precipitated by failed economic policies and the “gross corruption” of the current government.