A Senior Commissioner of the Commission for Conciliation, Arbitration and Mediation (CCMA) today postponed the conciliation of the wage dispute between organised labour and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) for another two weeks.
The United National Transport Union (UNTU) agreed to the postponement after SATAWU, our partner as Organised Labour in the PRASA Bargaining Forum, was unable to obtain a mandate on the proposal made earlier by Senior Commissioner Moe Ally.
Ally suggested earlier that both parties, PRASA management and Organised Labour, obtain a mandate for an 8% salary increase on the total cost to company for all PRASA Bargaining Forum employees.
Ally based his suggestion on the average wage settlements of between 7% and 8% currently, bearing in mind that the consumer price index (CPI) was 3,7% at the end of March 2018.
Ally also used the ongoing bus strike as an example of what both employer and Trade Unions need to prevent as it can never be in the best interest of workers to embark on an indefinite strike for four weeks when there is only a 1% difference between the offer and the demand.
Steve Harris, General Secretary of UNTU, says any wage agreement will be backdated to 1 April 2018 once it is signed.
The parties will meet again at the CCMA on 30 May 2018.
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
