Bombela, the operator of the Gautrain, put an 8% salary increase on the negotiation table this morning to try and prevent a strike by the United National Transport Union (UNTU). UNTU is demanding a 9% increase and an increase in other benefits such as housing and transport allowance.
UNTU refuses to accept this latest, desperate attempt from Bombela to prevent the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) from issuing the UNION with a certificate, giving them permission to strike.
“Bombela wants to attach various conditions to the proposed settlement. The employer expects UNTU to sign an agreement with a clause stating that the agreement will be null and void if UNTU does not have 50% membership at the end of October,” says Eddie de Klerk, Deputy General Secretary of UNTU.
Bombela admits that UNTU were the majority UNION when the dispute in the salary negotiations were declared on 11 June 2016. Bombela came to the CCMA in July arguing that UNTU has lost a few members within a month and therefor no longer enjoys the majority union position.
“UNTU has until the end of October to rectify the membership. It is a question of a few members. This means that Bombela currently has no bargaining partner in terms of its collective agreement. The other Union at the Gautrain’s membership are far lower than that of UNTU,” De Klerk explains.
Two senior Commissioners of the CCMA are trying their utmost best to try and mediate the dispute. They have yet to rule on the point in limene that Bombela brought earlier. If the ruling is in favour of UNTU, the Union can go ahead with a strike. Bombela repeatedly stated that it does not want the CCMA to issue UNTU with a certificate to strike.
The Commissioners warned both parties that a strike at the Gautrain would be devastating in the current economic climate. The petroleum sector has been on strike for almost a month now causing more motorist to make use of the Gautrain.
The parties are now in separate rooms and the Commissioners are trying to facilitate.
For enquiries phone Mr. Eddie de Klerk 0825676638.
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.
