Metrorail’s attempt to get a Labour Court order to stop a strike that is disrupting its services failed on Monday, the United Transport and Allied Trade Union (Utatu) said.
An attorney’s letter to Utatu said that the premise of the application was that the strike was unlawful and unprotected.
The court disagreed and dismissed the application, the letter read.
Utatu said this means that the strike is legitimate.
Metrorail workers said they will continue to strike unless the company agrees to a 6,5% wage increase across the board.
Addressing workers who were protesting at Johannesburg’s Park station against Metrorail’s 4,5% wage offer, Louis Badenhorst of Utatu said: ”We will continue with this action until they give us what we want. We will pursue other action, through other channels if we have to.”
Shouts of ”Viva” and ”Amandla” and the sound of whistles and vuvuzelas echoed through the station on Monday morning as about 100 Metrorail workers marched to the company’s head office to present a memorandum to management.
The workers — men and women from Utatu and the United Association of South Africa — are unhappy with the company’s current offer.
One worker’s placard read: ”4,5% is less than R100 per month.” Another said: ”Give us 6,5% and we are happy — 4,5 is war.”
A Metrorail examiner and repairer, Chris de Koker, said: ”We keep quiet all the time and nothing happens. Inflation goes up, everything goes up, and we just stay behind.”
Another worker, Jeff Badenhorst, said: ”They want to give us 4,5% and then they take away our overtime. We want 6,5% or we will continue to strike.”
Ivan Moodley, a technician said: ”We all want a living wage. The fact that management puts us in a position like this is unreasonable. We don’t want to strike, but management is being unreasonable.”
Meanwhile, the Federation of Unions of South Africa called on commuters to make alternative arrangements for transport during the strike.
It also expressed concern over Metrorail’s alleged ”use of train drivers that have not been operational for more than a year to keep trains running during the strike, and the related safety risks this could present”.
A Metrorail representative was not immediately available to comment on Monday afternoon. — Sapa