Serious questions about the dwindling power of national bargaining councils in the face of the increasing casualisation of South Africa’s labour force were raised this week, as negotiations between transport unions and employers in the road freight industry crashed.
Unions that are party to the National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight Industry and the Road Freight Employers Association (RFEA) have been locked in talks since August last year over the employment conditions of about 24 000 workers in the trucking industry.
On Wednesday the South African Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu), acting on behalf of the bargaining council, issued a strike notice to the RFEA. Other unions party to the bargaining council are the Motor Transport Workers’ Union of South Africa, the Professional Transport Workers’ Union of South Africa, African Miners and Allied Workers’ Union and the Transport and Allied Workers’ Union of South Africa.
Abner Ramakgolo, the national coordinator of Satawu, said that unless the stalemate is defused within the next week 24 000 union members and 26 000 non-union members in the trucking industry will hit the streets.
The unions are demanding a 12% wage increase across the board, while the RFEA is offering 7%.
The major sticking point, however, is the RFEA’s contribution to the bargaining council’s provident fund.
The unions are demanding that the employers contribute 12% and the employees contribute 8%. The RFEA is offering a 0,25% increase because “the major companies, like the Imperial Group, Unitrans and Cargo Carriers, all have their own in-house provident funds”, said Ramakgolo.
This is indicative of an attempt by “certain companies” within the private sector to “break the back of the national bargaining council”, he said.
The increasing casualisation of workers in the trucking industry — about 16 000 out of the 60 000 workers in the industry are outsourced — is accelerating the rift between trade unions and companies. As a result, said Ramakgolo, national agreements at a central bargaining level are being replaced with “enterprise and local agreements or individual contracts”, which have made it more difficult for the unions to sustain national solidarity.
Repeated attempts by the Mail & Guardian to contact the RFEA failed.