The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has declared a wage dispute with employers in the passenger bus sector and have threatened to strike if conciliation efforts fail to break the impasse.
Labour and employer bodies including the SA Bus Employers Association and the Commuters Bus Employers Association are negotiating under the auspices of the SA Road Passenger Bargaining Council.
The bargaining council’s members include Putco, Bojanala Bus, Algoa Bus Company and Great North Transport and a strike could strand tens of thousands of commuters.
Numsa, one of SA’s biggest trade unions representing more than 400,000 workers, participated in the first round of wage talks from February 5-9. It initially demanded a one-year, 15% wage increase which it revised to 10%. Employers are offering 4%.
In January, Stats SA reported annualised headline inflation of 5.1% in December, down from 5.5% in November.
Numsa’s other demands include a “full compulsory healthcare” for all workers, with employers contributing 50% of the cost, and a doubling of the driver allowance to R900. The lowest-paid employee in the bus passenger sector earns about R7,800 a month.
Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said the union was taken aback when they were offered a “conditional 4% increase and that the unions drop all other demands. They tried to persuade us to extend the first round of wage talks, but we have rejected this proposal”.
“Our members gave us a mandate to make significant progress in the five days which were allocated to the talks. However, we are still far from each other. We also do not want to prolong negotiations unnecessarily. The current agreement is going to expire on March 31, therefore we have no choice but to act with speed to try to resolve this round of wage talks,” Jim added.
“This is why we decided to declare a dispute because it became clear that we are not finding each other on the demands outlined above and employers are not prepared to even respond to our core demands.”
Numsa has convened a meeting of shop stewards in the bus passenger sector on Wednesday to chart a way forward. “We are waiting for the bargaining council to confirm a date for conciliation, which should happen in about 30 days’ time,” said Jim.
“In the meantime, we demand that employers use this time and come back with a better offer, otherwise if they fail, a national strike in the bus passenger sector is unavoidable. We are aware that a strike will inconvenience passengers but we may be compelled to resort to such action if employers do not return with a decent offer on the table.”
Stakeholders in the bus industry signed a one-year, 7% pay hike deal after lengthy negotiations in April 2023. The agreement ends on March 31.
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