Sanral, employees reach above-inflation wage agreement

Workers at the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) have reached an above-inflation wage agreement with the employer.

The workers – some of them affiliated with the Democratised Transport Logistics and Allied Workers Union (Detawu) have been in wage negotiations with the employer for weeks now, demanding a 13% salary increase.

The workers have secured an impressive 7.5% pay hike this year and an 8,5% increase for the following year.

Detawu is an affiliate of the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) and a majority union at Sanral.

Wage negotiations started a fortnight ago, with workers demanding a 13% wage increase.

Eventually, the parties agreed to settle for an above-inflation 2-year wage settlement.

Detawu national organiser, Praisewell Nsibande says, “Detawu is pleased to sign the above-inflation wage agreement at Sanral. The agreement is a multi-year agreement at 7,5% and 8,5%. We’ve also managed to achieve the benefits of the medical aid 50%.

Workers have been struggling to make ends meet with rising inflation hovering at between 6% and 7%.

The labour union says the settlement was no small achievement given a slew of economic challenges here at home and abroad.

Nsibande says, “We are also very happy about achieving this agreement under this global economic situation which is bad. We are also pleased by the employer’s cooperation during the wage negotiations. We are also happy for our members in terms of what we’ve achieved.

Labour analysts say this is a victory for the workers and Sanral in averting an industrial action that would have disadvantaged both parties.

Labour Analyst, Tony Healy says, “I think this is an interesting agreement. It is higher than what we might call CPI [Consumer Price Index]. But we must remember that food inflation is running at around 20%. Electricity goes up by 15%. So, the transport costs go up by higher than that CPI number.”

“So, in as much as the 8% may be higher than what we call the CPI basket, it’s in fact still quite a bit below the kind of cost of living increases that many of these union members will be faced with. But yes, undoubtedly, it’s a wage agreement at the upper end of the spectrum that we’ve seen over recent years as well as months,” adds Healy.

Detawu says the employer has also agreed to subsidise workers’ medical aid by 50% to a maximum of R5 000 per month, per employee.

The subsidy will also be backdated to the 1st of April this year for workers who were already on the company medical aid and will apply going forward for those who were not.

Sanral workers reach a 7,5% wage increase agreement:

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