THE National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) said on Tuesday it was dismayed to learn that workers at the cash-strapped Autopax have once again experienced delays in their salary payments.
This is the second time in a space of three months that Autopax employees are paid their salaries late due to the company’s cash flow crisis.
According to NUMSA general secretary Irvin Jim, Autopax, which operates intercity buses Translux and City to City, sent a communication to employees last week informing them that their salaries would be delayed, but the letter did not state when salaries would be paid.
He said workers usually received payment of their salaries on the 27th of every month, but to date no salaries have been paid.
“This is unfortunately not the first time that workers’ salaries have been delayed,” said Jim.
“We have communicated with management on this issue because they owe it to employees to give reasons for the delay.”
He said this was unfair because employees are still expected to show up for work every day and on time.
If they fail to do so they are threatened with discipline.
“This is unfair because they cannot be expected to go to work, when they have not received payments of their salaries. How are they expected to pay for fuel of for transportation? They are unable to pay their children’s school fees, or provide for their family’s needs,” said Jim.
“We demand an explanation from the management of Autopax. Workers deserve to get clarity as to how the company will resolve the situation. What is even more distressing is the silence from PRASA and the Department of Transport who are shareholders. Autopax is wholly owned by PRASA.”
In February, Prasa and Autopax were referred to the Competition Tribunal for abusing its dominance at Johannesburg’s Park Station, following an investigation by the Competition Commission into complaints by long-distance bus operators.
The Competition Commission found that Prasa was charging bus operators excessive prices for the use of Park Station. It found that the state-owned rail company favoured Autopax in space allocation and restricted or denied access to bus operators, who were competitors.
Jim said management is aware of the suffering of workers but they have not intervened decisively to stabilize the situation at Autopax.
He said PRASA and by extension Autopax were suffering from the same problems experienced by all other SOE’s including SAA, Eskom, Denel and others.
“The ANC government has actively destroyed our SOE’s through corruption, mismanagement and looting,” said Jim.
“At the same time, they have poisoned the public’s mind against state intervention in the economy because they have brought SOE’s to the point of collapse. They have blindly pursued failed neo-liberal macro-economic policies which are attacking the working class and the poor daily. They are shamelessly serving the interests of White Monopoly Capital.”
He added: “After destroying our SOE’s they will simply privatize or sell them and their capitalist cronies will enrich themselves at our expense. The consequences of this total failure in leadership is that thousands of workers and their families’ will suffer through job losses if these entities collapse.”
“This is why NUMSA is determined to fight against these hyenas whose only interest is to line their own pockets. We reject any plans to privatize or sell our SOE’s and we will continue to do all we can to protect jobs and expose them for their betrayal.”
- Inside Politics
