The Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) management has yet to formally table an offer to the two largest unions in its workplace, who have now approached dispute resolution body the CCMA for intervention.
“There is still no offer on the table from the management,” said Atenkosi Plaatjie, spokesperson of the United National Transport Union (Untu). She said the dispute of mutual interest would be heard at the CCMA on April 10.
“Prasa negotiations are not continuing yet.”
SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) spokesperson Amanda Tshemese confirmed parties would meet again next week Monday.
Prasa spokesperson Andiswa Makanda did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Untu and Satawu, the two largest unions at Prasa, declared a dispute at the CCMA last week and threatened industrial action after the rail operator “refused” to formally respond to demands for wage increases five times the rate of inflation.
Satawu and Untu’s consolidated wage demands include a 15% across-the-board wage increase for 2025/26. Inflation is hovering at about 3%.
The unions are also demanding a R3,000 housing subsidy, R50 per hour standby allowance, R10 per hour night shift allowance, a moratorium on retrenchments and a medical aid subsidy with the employer contributing 70%, among others.
A strike could leave millions of commuters reliant on trains for transportation in limbo and stall the recovery programme of the past year that saw the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) reopening several rail lines in Gauteng and Western Cape that were subjected to severe damage, theft and vandalism during the Covid-19 lockdown.
The two unions declared a dispute with the CCMA after talks — which began early this year — stalled for the third time at Prasa’s Umjantshi House headquarters in Johannesburg a week ago.
Irregular expenditure
Prasa spent R3.8bn on irregular expenditure in 2022/23, earning itself a qualified audit opinion during the period under review.
From 2018/19 to 2021/2022 the auditor-general issued a disclaimer on the parastatal’s financial statements. A disclaimer signifies that the company’s accounts cannot be relied on and often suggests the company is in a serious financial state.
Prasa received government subsidies from the department of transport amounting to R7.2bn for operations and R12.3bn for capital expenditure during 2022/23. In addition, the rail operator generated revenue of R119m in the form of fare revenue, operating lease rental income of R620m, other income of R181m and interest received of R1.7bn.
Transport minister Barbara Creecy told the national bargaining conference of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA in Johannesburg last week Monday that the work of returning Prasa to its former glory continued.
“Prasa has embarked on an extensive corridor recovery programme, focused on resignalling lines, refurbishing stations and securing key depots. This has led to 34 of 40 commuter service lines re-entering into operation. Prasa has set a target of reaching 600-million passenger trips per annum, in line with pre-pandemic figures, with 64-million trips predicted by the end of 2024/25,” Creecy said.
“An increase in the number of trips can only be achieved by successfully resignalling corridors, thus increasing the frequency of services. The recovery of passenger rail falls within government’s broader objective of revitalising the rail sector. Commuter rail is a safer and cheaper alternative for the working class.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.