Transnet will consider a proposal for mediation in the ongoing dispute with labour over the restructuring of the parastatal, a spokesperson said on Friday.
John Dludlu said the company has informed the four labour unions involved in the dispute that it will consider their proposal for mediation as early as this weekend.
”We are now awaiting a response from labour on this,” he said. ”We believe that this has the potential of breaking the current impasse.”
The South African Transport Workers’ Union, the United Transport and Allied Trade Union, the United Association of South Africa and the South African Railways and Harbour Workers’ Union embarked on regional strike action in January over the restructuring of Transnet.
The unions accused Transnet of ”steamrolling” negotiations over the restructuring and of being concerned only with its balance sheet — wanting to dispose of companies such as Metrorail as quickly as possible while ignoring the human impact.
Those affected by the dispute include workers at Metrorail, Spoornet, South African Airways, South African Port Operations, the National Ports Authority, Petronet, Transwerk, Autopax, Freightdynamics and a number of smaller business units. Transnet has a total workforce of about 85 000.
While unions were reporting all Eastern Cape Transnet employees on strike on Friday, Metrorail maintained that all its critical staff were at their posts and transport services were at 100%.
”By this morning, Port Elizabeth had confirmed that workers in Transwerk and Metrorail had almost totally stayed away and preparations for the march were already under way,” said South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union spokesperson Ronnie Mamba.
However, Metrorail’s Thandi Mlangeni said: ”All our critical workers, like train drivers, did show up for work, so we could supply a 100% service to commuters.”
Transnet employees in Gauteng are expected to embark on strike action on Monday. — Sapa