LERATO MBHIZA AND ANDILE MBELE
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has secured an above inflation wage increase of 8% across the board for all workers at Gautrain and managed to get management to agree for staff to use the train services to get to and from work for free.
The Consumer Price Inflation is currently standing at 6.9%.
The trade union welcomed the agreement saying it resolved the burning issues which sparked the dispute with the employer, said Numsa General Secretary Irvin Jim.
“We secured an above inflation increase of 8% at a time when most employers are not granting any increases, and we secured a double digit percent increase on housing allowance. Initially the employer wanted to abolish the housing allowance but we managed to retain and increase it,” said Jim.
Jim said the union has also managed to persuade the employer to reinstate the staff cards for all employees.
“This is a positive development, because our members would have been forced to pay to use the Gautrain, when traveling to and from work, and this issue almost made workers resort to strike action,” he added.
According to Jim, the success of the wage negotiations relied heavily on the unity of workers, and “their courage to defend and to fight for their gains and to improve their conditions. It is the unity of workers that shifted Gautrain management and compelled them to make the necessary compromises.”
He called on all the union members and all workers at Gautrain to remain united because “that is the only guarantee that will secure even better wages and benefits in the next round of negotiations.”
Numsa has been in wage talks with Gautrain management since April this year, and the talks deadlocked in June. However, management offered to settle before the workers could go on strike, Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said.
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