The United National Transport Union (UNTU) declared a dispute today to force the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) to restore safety regulations on trains in the Western Cape within 48 hours.
If Prasa does not adhere, UNTU will give the passenger rail agency 48 hours-notice on Monday 16 December before embarking on a legal strike on 18 December.
This follows after Prasa suspended several UNTU train drivers this morning, who refused to work on the notoriously dangerous Central Line between Khayelitsha and Cape Town yesterday, but availed themselves for service on other routes.
Steve Harris, General Secretary of UNTU, says the train drivers working on the Central Line said more tracks on the Central Line are not functional after the service was reinstated yesterday. “We are worst off and it is more dangerous now than before the service was suspended,” says one of the members.
According to Harris, the dispute was declared because Prasa continues to not comply with safety regulations. UNTU has repeatedly reported Prasa’s conduct to the Rail Safety Regulator (RSR) who is obliged to act and withdraw the passenger rail services operating license with immediate effect.
“The RSR is failing South Africa in its duty by allowing Prasa to operate under these extreme dangerous and unsafe circumstances. It is just a matter of time before more innocent people will die on our railway lines.”
Harris says the members are so traumatised about the constant exposure to danger that the Union had to arrange for trauma counsellors to debrief them today at 11:00.
UNTU filed an application at the Western Cape High Court in March for a court order to force Prasa to drastically improve the safety of the Central Line. This application was opposed by Prasa, by the South African Police Service and by the Minister of Transport and will as a result only be heard in the third or fourth court term of next year due to the overcrowding of the court roles.
On 4 December UNTU joined our affiliated federation, FEDUSA, and two public service Unions, Hospersa and PSA, in a March to Parliament where we handed over a memorandum to demand that the Military Police be deployed to ensure the safety on amongst others the railway lines during the Festive Season.
Harris says the parties did not receive any response on their demand as of yet.
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.
