The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has urged the Gautrain management to attend another wage meeting with them on June 28 to avoid them balloting workers for a strike action.
Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said the union and Bombela Operating Company, which operates the Gautrain, had reached an agreement of an 8% wage increment.
However, Gautrain disputed this, saying there is no agreement.
“The Bombela Operating Company and Numsa have not reached agreement on its wage negotiations which have since deadlocked,” said Gautrain spokesperson Kesagee Nayager.
“The company and Numsa had agreed upfront to have three wage negotiation sittings, but they [Numsa] abandoned the negotiations after the second sitting. The third sitting has since been agreed for June 23 and the company remains committed to engaging with them in good faith to find an amicable solution to the impasse,” she said.
Nayager said Numsa had, in principle, agreed to the following increases: a basic increase of 8%, night shift allowance of R33 per hour, night work transport subsidy of R105, housing allowance of R1,100 and a KPI bonus of R9,000.
However, Numsa is demanding 8% across-the-board increase, a one-year agreement valid from July 1 to June 30 2024, housing allowance to increase to R1,750, transport allowance to increase from R100 to R125 per shift or R2,100 per month for all shift workers – whether they worked or not and the night shift allowance of R38 per hour.
They are also demanding medical aid contribution of the employers to be 55% and the employees to contribute 45%, KPI bonus of R15,000, no retrenchment for the period of the agreement, status quo to remain on train rides for all employees coming to work and going back home and that the fare evasion policy must be abolished.
The union’s general-secretary, Irvin Jim, said: the new policy to abolish staff cards, which award workers with free rides when commuting to and from work, and housing allowance, is “outrageous”.
“The decision to abolish the staff cards is outrageous because our members cannot afford to pay to use the Gautrain because it is expensive, hence the need for staff cards. This benefit has been in place since 2013 and workers were allowed to utilise the train without paying.
“The company also wants to abolish the housing allowance which enables workers to access housing. Without it, they would not be able to buy their own homes. Gautrain proposed removing it so it can be built into the wages, but our members reject this.”
Hlubi-Majola rubbished the claims that they have abandoned the negotiations.
“There’s no such thing that Numsa walked out of the negotiations, that’s rubbish. I don’t know where the Gautrain spokesperson got that from. We even attended the meeting with CCMA where we unfortunately weren’t able to find each other, and we got a certificate of non-resolution, which is also known as a strike certificate,” said Hlubi-Majola.
“Our goal is to make sure that we prevent strike action. We hope they take us seriously and engage with us so we can prevent it. We’re willing to compromise on other demands, but on the demand of the staff cards, they’re out of their minds, there’s no way. It’s ridiculous that they expected workers to pay when the same workers are doing the work of maintaining and driving the trains. They’re trying to milk workers.”
ratsatsik@sowetan.co.za
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