/ 3 April 2007

Jo’burg ‘fairly optimistic’ over Metrobus talks

The City of Johannesburg ended talks on Tuesday aimed at bringing an end to a two-month long Metrobus strike, with city bosses optimistic that an agreement would be signed with the union.

”We are fairly optimistic that they [the South African Municipal Workers’ Union — Samwu] will sign,” said city spokesperson Gabu Tugwana.

Tugwana said negotiations with the union ended on Tuesday afternoon and a formal agreement was handed over to Samwu.

He said the union had ”promised” they would respond to the offer by Wednesday.

Tugwana said it would be ”acting in bad faith” to divulge the contents of the agreement but said the city would be surprised if Samwu did not sign.

The buses were still off the road, he said.

Samwu spokesperson Dumisani Langa was not immediately available for comment. — Sapa