The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) will present a wage offer to its members on Wednesday to end a bus driver strike that has left commuters stranded for more than a week.
”We were given a counter-proposal for the first time yesterday [Tuesday]… They [Metrobus] seem to now toe the line. There’s a sense now we might be in a position to negotiate,” said Samwu Gauteng branch secretary Dumisani Langa.
”Whatever we received from them, we said, let’s take it back to our members.”
Langa said the proposal was about ”60% to what we want”.
The union will consult with its members during the day and report back to Metrobus at 6pm.
”Basically our counter-offer entails almost everything they requested,” said Johannesburg Metrobus spokesperson Kenney Kutu, after talks ended with the union at about 8pm on Tuesday.
Samwu’s main grievance revolves around Metrobus employees being unable to move up to a higher salary scale.
It said all drivers earned a monthly wage of R7 021, regardless of how many years they had served the company.
But Kutu has said this was what the union had requested during wage negotiations in 2001.
A 2007 Metrobus strike saw 21 violent incidents reported to the police, including murder.
This week’s strike has been peaceful so far, but no Metrobuses are running because the company said it could not guarantee the safety of drivers standing in for the striking workers.
Metrobus has said that the strike would cost drivers about R2-million in lost salaries as the no work, no pay principal applied. — Sapa