Thousands of striking Transnet workers of the United National Transport Union (Untu) and the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) have rejected the latest offer of 4.5% to increase their monthly wages backdated to 1 October this year, the unions said on Thursday.
“We are rejecting the offer because it is still way off CPI (consumer price index). It is rejected because it is very far from being a CPI-related increase,” Untu general secretary Cobus van Veeren said.
Satawu also rejected the offer, saying the employer is “greedy and selfish.”
Transnet employees are demanding a double-digit wage increase that is above the 7.6% inflation rate, according to the workers’ unions representatives.
Exports and imports have been severely affected by the strike, with the business community warning that the impasse will have a devastating impact on the economy if it did not end soon.
Transnet spokesperson Ayanda Shezi said the Wednesday negotiations were not been easy but both sides had shown commitment to dialogue.
“The negotiations have been a delicate balancing act for the company — mindful not only of the affordability and sustainability of the wage increases for the business — but also having full appreciation of the cost pressures that employees face currently,” the spokesperson said.
“But the company remains committed to concluding the wage negotiations speedily and amicably in the interest of employees, the company and the economy,” Shezi said.
Meanwhile, the government said it had sent three Cabinet ministers to face the workers in efforts to break the impasse during the talks.
Ministers of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan, Agriculture’s Thoko Didiza and Employment and Labour’s Thulas Nxesi urged parties in the Transnet wage negotiations to find a speedy resolution to the current wage offer dispute which is being mediated by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
NM/as/APA