A two-week strike that crippled operations at a major bus company was called off on Tuesday following a settlement agreement between the company and the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu).
”In terms of the agreement, all employees will resume their normal duties tomorrow [Wednesday],” Autopax spokesperson Trechia Arlow said on Tuesday.
All national and cross-border services at the bus company were suspended on March 5, sparking rumours that the company was closing shop.
But the company, a division of Transnet that deals with bus transport, dismissed the allegations, saying at the time that their Translux and City to City bus services would resume as soon as the strike was called off.
From Wednesday morning, all reservations and ticket sales offices would be open for business, Arlow said.
Satawu spokesperson Ronnie Mamba said the agreement with Autopax gave workers a 6% increment backdated to October 2006.
However, he said some of the issues that forced workers to down tools on March 1 were still to be discussed.
These issues include labour-law infringements, mismanagement and a lack of transformation within Autopax.
”The strike has been called off but that does not mean we have suspended negotiations.
”Outstanding issues will be addressed in due course. At the moment we just wanted the workers back at work, to serve bus commuters,” Mamba said. — Sapa