One of the unions involved in the Metrorail pay protest called off its strike on Thursday, with the second waiting for word from its members on whether to continue the strike.
The United Association of South Africa (Uasa) said it called off its strike on Thursday morning and asked its members to return to work pending further negotiations with Metrorail.
United Transport and Allied Trade Unions (Utatu) general secretary Chris de Vos said it is waiting for a mandate from its members on whether to continue.
”We can’t take the decision whether to reject the 4,5% offer or accept it,” he said.
The unions were pressing for a 6,5% increase opposed to Metrorail’s maximum offer of 4,5% or 5,5%, depending on the employee’s salary notch.
”They went through pain and it is very difficult to go back to them empty-handed,” De Vos said.
A mandate from Utatu members will take at least a day to come through.
He said various proposals were rejected by Metrorail — including postponing the implementation date of the increase, which would have saved the company money.
Uasa and Metrorail said in a joint statement that in terms of an agreement signed on Thursday afternoon, the union has accepted an offer of 4,5% plus 1% for notch increases. The agreement is effective from April 1.
In return, the management committed itself to looking into improving working conditions and ensuring the consolidation of Metrorail and the South African Rail Commuter Corporation will be orderly and conducted in a way that maintains or improves conditions of employment.
The management will also review remuneration parity between employees in Metrorail and Spoornet. It has also agreed to the encashment of accumulated leave over the June-July period, but this will be limited to three days.
”Crucially, the agreement, which is also in line with the balanced one concluded with Satawu [the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union], the majority union, means that the three-day strike action by Uasa’s members is called off immediately.
”Given the fact that a decisive majority of unionised workers have accepted the offer on the table, management is now in a position to go ahead with the implementation of the wage agreement,” Metrorail management and Uasa said. — Sapa