News online
South Africa freight transport dispute resolved
27 May 2010
Transport workers in South Africa have reached a settlement, bringing a two-week-long strike to a close.
Members of the ITF-affiliated union South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) employed by Transnet today accepted a pay deal. The settlement provides the workers with a range of benefits including: an 11 per cent increase on the basic wage plus an additional one per cent as a one-off payment; a R1000 (US$130) ex-gratia payment to all employees; an extension of medical aid subsidies; a medical allowance to workers who do not belong to any medial aid scheme; the permanent employment of 1000 contract workers by October and a rise in the minimum wage from R38,000 (US$5000) to R50,000 (US$6,500).
Transnet workers in ports, freight rail, rail engineering and fuel pipelines have now agreed to call off strike action, which began on 10 May.
Welcoming the agreement, ITF general secretary David Cockroft said: “In the last few minutes Satawu members working for Transnet have voted to accept the revised offer they have won by taking industrial action. We congratulate them on their perseverance in seeing this difficult dispute through to the end, and warmly welcome their assurances that international solidarity has helped them on their way to victory.”
Earlier this week, Cockroft criticised the Transnet managers’ attitude in a letter to the company’s acting chief executive officer Chris Wells, and said that ITF affiliates were on standby to take lawful solidarity action in support of Satawu.
Back to current news online stories
|
view larger image
