Gautrain services come to a standstill on Monday

The Gautrain services will be on halt on Monday as National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) members are to protest over for improved wages.

On Tuesday there was a communication breakdown between Numsa and the management of the Bombela Operations Company (BOC), which manages the Gautrain, as it offered the workers a non-negotiable 4.1% increase, while Numsa is demanding an 8% increase.

BOC intended to implement the increase as of October,1.

Numsa claims that the Gautrain management abruptly cut wage negotiations short and “declared a dispute” against its members with the intention to lock them out.

“We took them to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and it issued us with a certificate to strike on the 27th August 2020. Despite the certificate to strike NUMSA once again proposed a meeting to attempt to resolve the impasse, however true to their arrogance the BOC management turned this opportunity down,” the Numsa national spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said.

Hlubi-Majola said Numsa has done all it can to find an amicable resolution to the wage dispute, since March, and the engagements were suspended during the hard lockdown.

The parties resumed negotiations again around June 2020.

“Since this resumption of negotiations the BOC has displayed absolute disdain and arrogance towards Numsa,” Hlubi-Majola said.

Hlubi-Majola says the BOC’s actions necessitated the upcoming strike.

She says they have continuously called upon the BOC to continue with the negotiations, but they have refused.

“There is a culture in the South African workplace were executives do as they please and impose decisions on the workforce, instead of engaging with workers to find a solution. Even if a company is experiencing financial distress, its management, in terms of the law, do not have the right to impose changes on workers without meaningful consultation”.

“The BOC management is responsible for provoking the strike and, ultimately, they are responsible for the suffering that commuters will experience as a result of this strike,” Hlubi-Majola said.

Workers not in favour of the strike

Gautrain spokesperson Kesagee Nayager said the Numsa workers are not in favour of the intended strike.

“Only 124 of the 260 NUMSA members voted in favour of a strike and as such a majority vote of 50%+1 as per the Labour Relations Act was not achieved to support a strike,” Nayager said.

Nayager adds that the initial demand by Numsa tallied to an increase of approximately 30% and their subsequent, revised demand equates to an increase of approximately 26%.