MyCiTi bus drivers plan to march
|Published
Cape Town - 150204 - Dozens of MyCiTi bus drivers went on strike at 14h00 today. They gathered outside the Transpeninsula Investments depot in Green Point. Picture: David Ritchie Cape Town - 150204 - Dozens of MyCiTi bus drivers went on strike at 14h00 today. They gathered outside the Transpeninsula Investments depot in Green Point. Picture: David Ritchie
Cape Town - The MyCiTi bus driver strike enters its seventh day on Tuesday and permission has been requested to hold a protest march through the city.
However, union representatives will be returning to the negotiating table on Tuesday.
The striking drivers are employees of Transpeninsula Investments, one of three MyCiTi operating companies. They are members of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu), and their dispute is about organisational rights not recognised by the company.
Satawu shop steward Kervin Lingeveldt said the union had organised for Golden Arrow bus drivers to support the striking drivers’ actions.
“Currently they are driving our buses, which is not good for our cause,” Lingeveldt said. “So we asked all our Satawu members, and from today they are not going to drive our buses. Today Golden Arrow will show their support.”
But the city’s mayoral committee member for transport, councillor Brett Herron, said that the two other MyCiTi operating companies had been filling in for the striking drivers, limiting the impact of the strike.
While the affected trunk routes between the Civic Centre and Table View, Dunoon and the airport have operated normally, the feeder routes in the inner city are still running less frequently than normal.
“At this stage it is unclear when the strike will come to an end,” Herron said.
The strike began last Wednesday. Early on Monday a small group of striking drivers gathered at the Civic Centre station and made their way to the Prestwich Street depot in Green Point, near the headquarters of Transpeninsula.
On Friday, two buses en route to Hout Bay and Salt River were set on fire, sustaining minor damage. Nobody was injured.
“These attacks are linked to the ongoing strike by bus drivers,” Herron said.
However, no further incidents of violence or intimidation were reported over the weekend.
Herron reiterated that Transpeninsula was governed by the regulations of the South African Road Bargaining Council, which limited working hours to 45 per week, as well as 15 hours’ overtime per week.
Herron said that Transpeninsula had a certificate of compliance for these regulations.
* For information about MyCiTi, passengers can contact the Transport Information Centre on 0800 65 64 63, follow @MyCiTibus on Twitter or find MyCiTi Integrated Rapid Transit System on Facebook.
Cape Argus