Train services were running relatively smoothly on Wednesday, a Metrorail spokesperson said as a countrywide strike entered its third day.
Thandi Mlangeni said 97% of trains were running in the Witwatersrand area, 60% in Tshwane, 88% in Durban and 21% in Cape Town.
”Very much so, the results are encouraging,” Mlangeni said when asked if the service was running smoothly.
The United Transport and Allied Trade Unions (Utatu) and the United Association of South Africa (Uasa) are demanding a 6,5% increase across the board.
Metrorail’s acting chief executive, Lauriette Modipane, said Metrorail was sticking to its 5,5% pay rise offer.
The strike, which started on Monday, has left thousands of commuters without transport and many have had to make use of taxis, and buses provided by Metrorail.
The two unions, claiming membership of 1 500 and 2 500 respectively, have vowed to carry on with the strike until their demands are met.
Mlangeni said Metrorail’s management will meet with the unions in Johannesburg later on Wednesday to discuss their wage demands.
”They have requested a meeting. It is their agenda that will be discussed,” she said.
Utatu general secretary Chris de Vos said the meeting could see the issue resolved.
”We’re scheduled to meet Metrorail’s chief executive at 10am. We trust that could be the start of resolving the matter,” De Vos said.
The Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration on Tuesday decided not to intervene in the dispute.
On Monday Metrorail failed in its attempts to get an interdict forbidding the strike as unlawful.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions’ Western Cape regional general secretary Tony Ehrenreich said the strike could be resolved for about R1-million a year.
He urged both sides to resolve the matter speedily.
The Cape Town Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the potential effect of the strike was ”so serious” that there was a case to declare public transport an essential service that could not be disrupted by strike action.
Uasa spokesperson Gerhard Ueckermann said more workers were expected to turn out for Wednesday’s protests. – Sapa