The Gautrain bus service has returned to full service after a protest by disgruntled employees that affected operations last week.
“Workers have returned to work and the bus service has been in full operation at all stations as of this morning,” Gautrain spokesperson Kesagee Nayager said.
The SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), the country’s largest union in the local government sector, had threatened to challenge a decision by Gautrain to fire about 300 bus drivers in the courts on Monday.
Samwu Johannesburg regional chair Ester Mtatyana said on Monday: “They [workers] are back at work from today. We managed to reach agreement with the employer. For the next five to seven days, Samwu will meet the management to resolve all grievances of our members.”
Last week, Samwu accused Bombela Operating Company-owned Gautrain of dismissing “tens of workers for refusing to drive buses that are unroadworthy and without permits. Workers have been illegally locked out of employer premises in Midrand, hence the delay in Gautrain buses”.
Mtatyana told Business Day last week: “Plus or minus 300 workers have been fired. Our members are not on strike, they are just refusing to drive buses that are unroadworthy and lack operating permits.
“Some of these buses have been sitting without permits for 12 months. Our members are saying they can no longer drive the buses because they get traffic fines of R2,500, which they have to pay out of their own pockets.”
The union, representing 160,000 of SA’s nearly 300,000 municipal workers, was expected to chart the way forward on Monday.
Nayager has said all Gautrain buses were fully registered with “valid licences as well as roadworthy certificates”. However, “not all buses have valid operating licences and we are in discussion with the department of roads & transport to expedite the issuance of these operating licences”.
Nayager said workers who had embarked on an “illegal work stoppage have been issued with notices of dismissal and management is in discussion with Samwu in this regard”.
Gautrain is important to Gauteng’s economy as it links SA’s economic and financial hub of Johannesburg to the capital city of Tshwane, which boasts the Ford, BMW and Nissan manufacturing plants.
Gautrain also connects the two cities to the Ekurhuleni metro, where Africa’s busiest airport, OR Tambo International, is located.
Travelling at speeds of up to 160km/h, the train transports about 40,000 passengers a day and about 12,000 by bus.
The Gautrain project, however, which cost more than R30bn to construct, has been criticised by labour unions for not serving the province’s township areas, where most workers live.
This spurred Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi to announce during his recent state of the province address that his administration would invest R120bn in the expansion of the Gautrain — valued at about R45bn — to Soweto via Fourways, Mamelodi, Atteridgeville, Lanseria and Springs.
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