The United National Transport Union (UNTU) is shocked by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) pathetic file keeping and management of its disciplinary cases against its employees.
UNTU, the biggest union in the rail transport sector, urges its members not to respond to their employer request by providing it with the status of disciplinary cases against them.
PRASA admitted in an internal newsletter last week that it had been asked by Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Transport to give the status of disciplinary cases, but the passenger railway operator is struggling to complete the task because its filing system is in chaos and substantial information is missing from files.
“Now PRASA asks all employees to declare what disciplinary charges have been levelled against them for the past five years? Why should they? It is the responsibility of PRASA’s human resources division to keep this up to date. If this has not been done, heads must role and Parliament must know how malfunctional PRASA is.
“UNTU has repeatedly asked Government to approached the courts and place PRASA under administration. This latest scandal just gives further substance to UNTU’s point. South African taxpayers should start holding Government responsible for the continued reluctance to act against this state-owned enterprise where 14,6 billion is lost due to irregular expenditure,” says Steve Harris, General Secretary of UNTU.
According to Harris the chaos of PRASA’s human resource division also sheds lights as to why the employer is unable to properly implement a settlement agreement with the union.
UNTU is currently awaiting an award by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) on 19 disputes of PRASA’s non-compliance with the agreement.
For more information phone Harris on 082 566 5516.
Issued on behalf of UNTU by Sonja Carstens, Media and Liaison Officer. For UNTU Press Releases e-mail sonja@untu.co.za or phone 082 463 6806.
