South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) has dismissed claims that the planned strike at Transnet is illegal. The union says 18 000 of their members at Transnet will down tools on Monday over a wage dispute.
Earlier, Transnet argued that the strike was illegal due to a lack of evidence of the balloting process and the absence of the picketing rules.
Workers at the state-owned logistics firm are demanding a 12% wage increase and the employer is offering 3%.
Satawu”s General Secretary, Jack Mazibuko says the meeting with Transnet has deadlocked.
“A month ago Transnet made a profit of R5 billion during the time when they were declaring their profits at the end of their last financial year-end. That R5 billion is the money that has been worked by workers and workers were working even during the hardship of lockdown. So, we think our request for a double-digit is reasonable, based on the fact that indeed workers have worked and they have made a company to have the R5 billion that they are claiming as a profit,” Mazibuko elaborates.
VIDEO: Transnet workers to strike
