Cape Town - Transnet workers affiliated to the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) and the United National Transport Union (Untu) have rejected the latest offer from their employers which was made after two days of wage talks facilitated by the CCMA.
As the strike entered its eighth day on Thursday, Transnet tabled a three-year wage offer which spokesperson Ayanda Shezi said if accepted would have been backdated to April 1 this year.
Transnet’s offer entailed a 4.5% across-the-board increase in the current year, which would have been implemented from October 1, 2022. This would have been followed by a 5.3% increase in the 2023/24 financial year and a 5.3% increase in 2024/25.
The offer also included a 4.5% increase in the medical aid allowance in 2022/23, which would be adjusted in line with the across-the-board increase in the subsequent two years.
Shezi said: “The company remains committed to concluding the wage negotiations speedily and amicably in the interests of employees, the company and the economy.”
Satawu general secretary Jack Mazibuko said the offer was an insult which had disgusted and annoyed the union.
Mazibuko said: “The employer has been insulting, undermining and disrespecting the workers for the past five months since the beginning of negotiations when they first offered us a 1.5% increase.”
He said if the Transnet Group chief executive could take home R8.9 million a year, there was money to be had for the workers at Transnet whose sweat made the company billions in profits. “We are open to engaging Transnet. We are open to compromise where we need to compromise, but we cannot compromise below the inflation rate,” Mazibuko said.
Untu general secretary Cobus van Vuuren said they had also rejected the offer and said there was a need for the CCMA commissioner to explain to Transnet that they would not approach their members “with such a ridiculous offer”.
He said: “It would seem that all Transnet has done is to change the way the offer looks, allocating different percentage increases in different ways. The actual improvement in salaries of the members is still very far away from a CPI-related increase for the members.”
Meanwhile, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi and Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza have stepped into the fray and issued a joint statement on the strike.
The ministers said in the statement the government was “extremely concerned” about the negative impact on the economy.
The ministers said the sooner exports of agricultural products, mineral resources and other manufactured products were resumed, the better it would be as the exports contributed to sustaining hundreds of thousands of jobs across the economy.
Business Unity SA chief executive Cas Coovadia and his Business Leadership SA counterpart Busisiwe Mavuso pledged in a joint statement to work with the government and Transnet to ensure a continued limited operation of the ports where possible.