A march by thousands of Transnet workers in Durban ended on Wednesday, bringing to a close the first in a threatened series of strikes at the parastatal, a trade-union spokesperson said.
”The march and the call to members [to strike] were very successful. We handed a memorandum to the chief executive of the South African Port Operations,” said United Transport and Allied Trade Union (Utatu) general secretary Steve Harris.
”We don’t believe that the [talks with Transnet] have been constructive up to now. We want management to start respecting labour for our rights and to come down from their podiums.
”These things [strikes] are not in the interests of either party,” he said.
Durban metro police spokesperson Superintendent Alex Wright said marchers were well behaved. He estimated between 2 000 and 3 000 people took part. Unions put the figure at close to 10 000.
The march brought to an end a three-day strike in KwaZulu-Natal and a one-day strike in the Free State. It was the first in a series unions have threatened in protest over the manner of Transnet’s getting rid of some of its business units.
Durban’s container terminal bore the brunt of the strike, while the city’s commuter trains and Richards Bay harbour were also affected.
The two parties will meet for talks in Johannesburg on Thursday afternoon — this after the parastatal considered a list of the union’s concerns, and possible solutions.
”If there is no change in management’s attitude, then we will continue [with the strikes],” Harris said.
Chris de Vos, also of Utatu, said earlier: ”Let’s hope that something will come from this meeting. I’m not overexcited. I don’t think they’re going to change their attitude.”
Transnet, with about 85 000 employees, is cutting away those of its businesses not associated with freight and rail transport after the government, its sole shareholder, instructed it to reduce the cost of doing business.
No jobs will be lost during the process, Transnet’s executive manager for strategy, Pradeep Maharaj, said on Tuesday.
”In exiting Transnet, those employee benefits will be protected and are protected by the Labour Relations Act.”
Strike action is to start again in the Eastern Cape on February 13. The Northern and Western Cape will follow suit on February 14. Those in Gauteng, North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo will join the protests on February 20.
Should the dispute still not be resolved, unions have threatened a national strike on March 6.
A policy research officer at the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu), Jane Barrett, said earlier: ”They are just steamrolling without proper regard to negotiation. It’s an ignoring of proper procedures that are in place or should be in place.”
The four unions involved are Satawu, Utatu, the South African Railway and Harbour Workers’ Union and the United Association of South Africa.
A Transnet spokesperson was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday. — Sapa