Due to the Covid-19 pandemic which has engulfed the entire universe all consultative meetings are held virtually to observe safety protocols in line with Governments Regulations as set and updated from time to time.
NEEC MEETING: 10 FEBRUARY 2021
UNTU EXCO, NFTUR & FTUR TE Attendees: Messrs Wielligh Meyer, Clayten du Plessis, John Short, Jacobus Zara, George Warrington, Ms Minette Meiring and Deputy General Secretary Tembile Mgqolozana.
The meeting was held virtually and after a lengthy delay due to connection problems via MS Teams the meeting eventually started.
Management presented a Transnet Engineering draft EE deviation SOP summary process map.
Labour expressed its unhappiness with the draft as it was lacking vital information and timeframes.
Management conceded the draft needed to be relooked into, reworked and they will come back to present it to Labour, by which UNTU made a few of suggestions which was noted by Management.
Labour further expressed their disappointment with the lack of women appointment in various grades and levels within TE, more women should be considered for appointments.
Steps the company want to take:
• One on one with PWD’s to identify career aspirations and develop training plan.
• Upgrading of infrastructure to accommodate PWD’s.
• Management is happy with the progress thus far made when it comes to recruitment plans for PWD’s.
• Management informed Labour that in the next 4 years, 671 employees mainly men will be going on retirement and businesses are urged to submit development plans and skills sharing.
• 967 bursaries were awarded and 826 are active, 88 employees have defaulted (not adhering to contract) and the company is busy recovering funds from 45 out of 88.
Skills Development Summary: OBML Progression:
• Out of 2736 Artisans, 317 are on entry level, 309 on 33% and majority Artisans are on 66%
Gender Split in number of trainings:
• 1031 interventions, 771 are male employees and 260 female employees.
• Training progression is slow due to Covid-19 implications.
• Expiring of licences, 4521 active licences and 1381 licences have expired.
• UNTU posed a question to SOE as to why training of employees is not being facilitated and SOE could not respond and informed UNTU they will respond when they have all the necessary information.
The meeting was adjourned.
NBC MEETING: 11 & 12 FEBRUARY 2021
The meeting started with technological glitches as some parties struggled to connect on MS Teams, but eventually connected.
TE’s CE Mr Ralph Mills chaired the meeting and his opening address to the meeting was that TE was fighting 2 significant battles, the one being the survival of Covid-19 and a moment of silence was observed in remembrance of all the fallen employees of TE. The second battle is that of sustainability as per his communication of “the melting iceberg”.
He further shared that nothing could be done about the past and that emphasis should be on what should be done now and the future. TE is going through changes and some of the changes might be painful and urged parties to make the best of what was available.
Matters arising from the previous minutes of the NBC:-
• PPE/UNIFORM CLOTHING: Meeting was held on 21/01/2021 with all centre managers and focus is on Salt River and Uitenhage.
• Procurement is busy with suppliers and an initial date for supply was to be 25/02/2021 but a date of 11/03/2021 should rather be the date of delivery due to suppliers delaying. Management will issue penalties to suppliers who are not delivering on the set times and the 11/03/21 date is not cast in stone.
• Items to be issued are workwear (overalls) socks, golf t-shirts, belts, jerseys, dustcoats and beanies.
• Strategy going forward is to resuscitate uniform committees for each centre which will be spearheaded by centre managers, revive national uniform committees to be spearheaded by GM in CE’s office and ER executive manager, appoint cross functional teams to facilitate the 2022 issue and to communicate the backlog strategy to address Salt River and Uitenhage.
• Western Cape has not received uniform clothing for the past 3 years and UNTU is extremely disappointed with that as it was constantly raised with no proper feedback from management.
• Labour went further to express its frustration with the changing of dates for the issuing of uniform clothing which was initially on 25/02/2021 and moved to 11/03/2021 as the first date was communicated to members.
• UNTU raised its frustration about Support Services issues which are not addressed and reiterated its position for the establishment of Support Services monthly NOC to urgently deal with challenges.
• Management informed labour the Canteen matter in Saldanha had not been attended to and UNTU was not happy with the response from management and CE tasked the GM: CE’s office to investigate the matter till the appointment of GM: facilities. UNTU put proposals to deal with the issue as a matter of urgency and the CE informed labour that management had dropped the ball and he assured labour he was going to pick it up, hold management to account and there is an initiative to consolidate facilities in Saldanha and Richards bay from Transnet group.
• UNTU requested an extension on the closing date for the intake of apprentices and management informed UNTU they will look into the request and revert back.
• Quality to be infused with the new structure and a plan is being constructed by management and UNTU strongly expressed that there was a need for a cultural change to address the Quality’s culture.
• TE finances are not looking good and the EBITDA is below what was budgeted.
• TE depended on TFR for work but the new builds did not materialize as anticipated and the company facilitated a cost saving initiative which the company reported it yielded much needed relief.
• Latest revenue of R8.1 billion out of a budget of R11 billion for the year due to no work from TFR, no work for the 1064 project and not enough work from Prasa which had an impact on the loss of revenue amounting to R1.2billion for the year.
• TE anticipate there is a possible loss of revenue for next year amounting to R1 billion due to work reduction from TFR and the revenue is shrinking by large margins.
• TE’s CE Mr Ralph Mills did a presentation to labour and management team which showed how he was re-organising and restructuring TE to be a diversified business which will be able to stand on its own and be profitable.
• The CE shared his plan which was still work in progress in that he wanted TE to work with other State-Owned Enterprises.
• Labour strongly raised its concerns and that they will support the efforts to resuscitate and revive TE, but we want transparency and be consulted in any decision that management will be making and further to that it was raised that we will monitor what we deem to be wasteful expenditure and directly engage the CE to hold managers to account.
• Labour expressed whenever there are challenges at TE it is bargaining unit employees who must bear the brunt and be negatively affected by reckless decisions from management and that will not be tolerated anymore.
• UNTU proposed that a committee be set up to comprise of management and labour to look into all the issues affecting TE and proposed solutions which will make TE thrive and be profitable.
Members will be kept abreast at all times of any new developments during the process of engagements between Labour and Management.
Members, please feel free to direct enquiries to any of the following UNTU Representatives:-
1. Wielligh Meyer wielligh@untu.co.za
2. Clayten du Plessis clayten@untu.co.za
3. John Short John.Short@transnet.net
4. Jacobus Zara Jacobus.Zara@transnet.net
5. George Warrington George.Warrington@transnet.net
6. Minette Meiring Minette.Meiring@transnet.net
7. Tembile Mgqolozana tembile@untu.co.za
We appeal to all our members to be responsible and observe safety protocols in line with Covid-19 regulations, observe social distancing and always wear a mask.
Esteemed greetings,
Tembile Mgqolozana
O. b. o Steve Harris
GENERAL SECRETARY
