With 12 gangs of dockers working back-to-back 12-hour shifts, critical congestion in the Durban port looks set to be cleared by the mid-month deadline, port sources said this week.
But in the longer run, government plans to concession Durban’s operations to private operators are heading for stormy waters.
The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) announced this week it would launch anti-concession protests. This, said Satawu official Jane Barrett, could mean a socio-economic strike under the Labour Relations Act.
However, Barrett suggested the protest would be triggered only if the government was ”intransigent”.
Canadian consultants, financed by the British and United States governments, have been hired to research all Durban terminals with an eye to contracts next year. International operators Hutchinsons and P & O Ports are said to be interested.
Concessioning, as a means of attracting private investment, was endorsed by the Cabinet in April and gazetted as part of ports policy in August.
Barrett said that at a union pow-wow with the Department of Public Enterprises last month, officials insisted the principle of concessioning was not for debate.
Satawu has referred the dispute to the National Economic Development and Labour Council. An encounter in the next few weeks would test if the government ”has closed the door”.
Labour’s position has probably been weakened by the Durban container crisis, which has prompted the threat of a surcharge on freight owners by shipping firms. Surcharges would need court endorsement. The port authority has pledged to normalise traffic by November 15.
Underpinning the congestion are a Christmas-related import surge, high exports fuelled by a weak rand and unseasonal weather. Labour’s anti-privatisation strike paralysed the container terminal for two days.
The union argues that the government’s faith in private operators as a route to greater efficiency is not backed by research. It has demanded concessioning be put on hold pending a full study.
Its deep concern, Barrett said, was that many port operators had a history of union-bashing. Some were linked to shipping companies, leading to monopolies.
Department of Public Enterprises spokesperson Phumla Mtyeku declined to comment.