The CCMA has given the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) 60 days to table a “just and fair” wage offer to its workforce, following a dispute lodged by the two biggest unions at the state-owned rail operator.
The United National Transport Union (Untu) and SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) declared the dispute in March after Prasa management refused to formally table a wage offer. The decision to refer the matter to the CCMA came after three attempts to initiate wage negotiations for 2025/26.
During a CCMA process last Thursday aimed at breaking the impasse and reaching a deal, Prasa requested “a further 30 days to reassess its financial position, citing the need to review its first quarterly performance”, said Atenkosi Plaatjie, spokesperson of Untu, which has 6,930 members at Prasa.
“Labour reminded Prasa that they had previously indicated they would apply for a R5bn subsidy from the government. This subsidy has been approved by the Treasury. Labour also told the CCMA that employees have exercised enough patience amid the financial crises facing the economy, especially considering that the wage negotiation process should have commenced in October 2024,” she said.
Plaatjie said the CCMA elected to grant a “60-day extension to the conciliation process, effective from April 10. The breakdown is as follows: April 10-May 10 — Prasa to complete its mandating process; May 11-May 26 — facilitated collective bargaining process led by a CCMA commissioner”.
“Should the facilitation process fail, the matter will be returned to the CCMA for a final conciliation. If no resolution is reached, the CCMA will issue a certificate of nonresolution, after which labour may exercise its legal right to embark on protected industrial action,” Plaatjie said.
Satawu and Untu’s consolidated wage demands include a 15% across-the-board wage increase. Inflation is hovering at about 3%.
The unions are also demanding a R3,000 housing subsidy, a standby allowance of R50 an hour, a night shift allowance of R10 an hour, a moratorium on retrenchments and a medical aid subsidy with the employer contributing 70%.
Prasa incurred irregular expenditure of R3.8bn in 2022/23, earning a qualified audit opinion from the auditor-general for the period. 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 in 2022/23.
The rail operator generated revenue of R119m from fares, operating lease rental income of R620m, other income of R181m and interest received of R1.7bn.
Prasa has been approached for comment and once received it will be added to this story.
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