The SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu), which had threatened to embark on strike in the bus sector ahead of the busy Easter weekend, has received a revised offer from bus operators.
Satawu spokesperson Amanda Tshemese said the union, a Cosatu affiliate representing about 4,600 workers in the sector, is embarking on a mandate-seeking process on the new offer.
She would not say what the new figure is. The union is demanding a 9% wage increase and rejected the employers’ previous offer of 6%.
SA Road Passenger Bargaining Council general secretary Gary Wilson did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Last week the union threatened to embark on strike action and reached a deadlock with employer bodies at the SA Road Passenger Bargaining Council in February.
The union, which was granted a strike certificate in February, is demanding a two-year wage deal, with an increase of 9% in 2023/24 and an 8% hike in the final year. Consumer inflation eased to an annual rate of 6.9% in January from 7.2% in December 2022.
The union has rejected a 6% offer by employer organisations including the SA Bus Employers Association and the Commuter Bus Employers Association.
Meanwhile, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), the largest union in the bus passenger sector, said it was preparing for a national strike which was “likely to start ahead of the Easter long weekend”.
“The issue which has triggered the strike, is that the employer refuses to negotiate health insurance benefits. Workers in the sector do not have any kind of medical aid or medical insurance at all,” Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said.
“Medical insurance is a life and death matter for our members, the majority of whom cannot afford medical aid on their salaries. The lowest-paid workers are earning on average about R7,800 per month therefore medical aid is unaffordable. It is a well-known fact that public hospitals and clinics are collapsing and this is why we are demanding medical aid.”
Jim said because the union had been issued with a strike certificate it would resort to a “full-blown strike and this is likely to impact the upcoming Easter weekend” if employers did not go back to the negotiating table.
Jim said the only official proposal on the table is the mediator’s proposal which calls for a 7% increase for two years. All employees will receive a 7% increase on all allowances for the duration of the agreement.
“We wish to state upfront that the mediator’s proposal does not reflect the position of the majority of unions. Numsa is the majority union in the bus passenger sector, and we did not endorse the proposal. However, despite our misgivings about how this was done, we welcome the opportunity to engage the proposal and hope that we can make adjustments to some of the proposal so that it comes closer to meeting some of our demands,” Jim said.
“We have proposed an urgent meeting with employers, preferably within the next 48 hours. The ball is in their court if they wish to avert a disaster.”
Apart from the effect on bus operators, a strike could leave millions of passengers in the lurch over the Easter long weekend, including travellers to neighbouring countries such as Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Eswatini.
The bus industry is among the sectors hardest hit by the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions that included the closure of borders and rules limiting passenger numbers.
The restrictions resulted in luxury coach operator Greyhound and its semiluxury operator Citiliner halting operations in February 2021 that led to hundreds of job losses. The bus lines resumed operations in April 2022 after the company’s relaunch.
In 2022, a strike in the sector was averted when parties agreed on a 6% pay increase that expires on March 31. The unions had initially sought 11%.
In 2021, workers in the sector settled for a 4% increase after demanding between 7.5% and 8.5%, and in 2020 the sector implemented a 6% hike.
Update: April 4 2023 — This article has been updated with new information.
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