The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) is on the verge of a national pay strike in the bus passenger sector before the busy Easter holidays.
A strike could result in the stranding of holidaymakers who rely on public transport and increase financial strain on bus operators as they try to recover from the effects of Covid-19.
Also affected would be SA Road Passenger Bargaining Council (Sarpbc) employers, including commuter, long-distance and cross-border bus companies.
Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said on Wednesday that the union has been engaging with employers in the bargaining council but the parties reached a deadlock in their last engagement from February 14 to 18.
Numsa demands pay of R12,000 a month for lowest-paid employees, who now get about R7,800. Employers propose a 2.5% pay rise, which is below the headline inflation rate of 5.8% forecast by the Reserve Bank for 2022.
The union is also demanding a one-year wage hike deal and an industry medical aid with operators contributing 80% towards costs and workers 20%.
Mandatory period
Jim said that after mediation efforts failed at the bargaining council, a strike certificate was issued on March 14.
“We are currently observing the mandatory 30-day cooling off period, after which we can serve the 48-hours’ notice to strike. We have also concluded picketing rules,” Jim said.
“The cooling-off period will end on April 13, which is two days before Good Friday ... We have done everything we can to avoid a strike, but it seems very likely [that] a nationwide bus passenger strike is unavoidable at this stage. We have no choice.
“We either submit to the demands of employers or fight. Submission is not an option for our members who have been denied meaningful increases, even though it is their sweat and their labour that has carried this industry through the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Jim said there were no meaningful increases in the bus passenger sector in the past two years due to the “excuse” of the negative effects of Covid-19.
The bus industry, which employs about 35,000 workers, was affected by various lockdown restrictions that included the closure of borders and rules limiting bus occupancy numbers. These resulted in the Greyhound and Citiliner bus lines closing shop in February 2021, with 4,000 employees estimated to have lost their jobs.
Urgent meetings
Workers in the sector settled for a 4% pay rise in April 2021, despite initially demanding 7.5%-8.5%. In 2020, the sector implemented a 6% wage hike.
“We are calling on all Numsa locals and regions to hold urgent depot meetings, local general meetings, and regional shop stewards’ councils to mobilise, [and] agitate our members for the eventuality that seems certain which is an industrywide complete shutdown,” said Jim.
“The offer from employers is a nonoffer. If the strike is to be averted, employers must come back to the negotiating table and make a meaningful offer to avert the strike.”
Sarpbc general secretary Gary Wilson did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
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