Transnet is playing a game of cat and mouse with the fate of thousands of employees, especially those working for Transnet Engineering, because as a state-owned enterprise it does not want Government to lose face and support ahead of the general elections to be held in 2019.
Steve Harris, General Secretary of the United National Transport Union (UNTU), questioned Tumelo Mokwena’s, Transnet General Manager: Human Capital, reasoning this week after Mokwena said in a statement that the moratorium that was placed on the filling of non-critical vacancies in Transnet last year, was only an interim measure.
“This does not make sense as Transnet has stated its intention to reduce its wage bill by R4 billion within the next three years. To do so, the company is considering the reduction of 9 000 employees, with more than half of them working for Transnet Engineering (TE).
This was the reason behind Transnet’s motivation to introduce voluntary severance packages (VSP) to thousands of employees last year, only to grant just 446 VSP’s to Transnet Bargaining Council (TBC) employees.
“Transnet even informed Labour that a second round of VSP’s will be introduced, only to
withdraw it at the 11th hour after the intervention of Minister of Public Enterprises Lynne Brown, who must also be concerned about massive job losses at a SOE in the run-up to the elections,” says Harris.
Harris says Transnet has now changed its mind indicating that it was not only willing to fill vacancies, but also intends to give preference to Managerial Level, ignoring the fact that UNTU has repeatedly pointed out that the company has too many managers and too little workers.
“This means that Transnet is not adhering to the Labour Relations Act by doing everything within its means to minimize the possibility of retrenchments in the 2018/2019 financial year. Currently TBC employees are protected against forced retrenchments thanks to the terms of a collective agreement between Transnet and Labour. This agreement lapses at the end of March 2018,” says Harris.
UNTU’s outrage at Mokwena’s decision comes after Thamsanqa Jiyane, Chief Executive Officer of Transnet Engineering, told Parliament this week that the economic downturn has had a dramatic impact on Transnet’s wagon procurement programme and ripple effects on local component manufacturers.
According to Jiyane only 100 wagons were built in the 2016/17 financial year compared to the 4‚119 originally targeted. The previous year only 2‚100 wagons were manufactured compared to the 3‚692 projected.
Jiyane said in relation to the 1‚064 locomotive acquisition programme‚ R4bn had been spent locally to date compared to the R21‚8bn target. To date 269 of the 1‚064 locomotives had been accepted from two of the original equipment manufacturers at Koedoespoort in Pretoria.
“Transnet’s decision is mind-blowing to UNTU. It seems that Transnet’s left hand does not know what its right hand is doing. Transnet must come clean about the fate of employees and stop indulging in political power play. UNTU only has the retention of jobs and the best interest of our workers at heart and the Union demands answers,” says Harris.
For more information phone Harris on 082 566 5516.
Issued on behalf of UNTU by Sonja Carstens, Media and Liaison Officer. For UNTU Press Statements phone 082 463 6806 or e-mail sonja@untu.co.za.
