The United National Transport Union (Untu), the largest union at Transnet representing close to 54% of workers, ended their picket on Monday. Picture Leon Lestrade African News Agency (ANA)
Transnet workers have been left divided over the partial end to their two-week-long strike after the majority union signed a multi-year wage agreement while the minority union remains on the picket lines.
This comes as the United National Transport Union (Untu), the largest union at Transnet representing close to 54% of workers, ended their picket on Monday after agreeing to a backdated three-year wage offer of a 6% hike, with an increased housing allowance.
This has brought to an end the stayaway by Untu members as they went back to their posts yesterday to help Transnet clear the backlog of cargo stuck at its ports.
However, the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu), which represents a third of Transnet’s workers, called Untu’s wage agreement with Transnet a “betrayal” considering that Satawu had joined the strike in solidarity with Untu.
Satawu general secretary Jack Mazibuko said this demonstrated that the working class was not homogeneous but was divided from a stratification, theoretical, conscious, social and economic point of view.
“Conditions of this nature suggest that petty bourgeois members located in the mentioned union mandated their representatives to sign an anti-worker wage agreement,” Mazibuko said.
“The agreement is centred on the class interests of the employer, profit maximisation, exploitation, precarious work conditions and employee insecurities.”
Mazibuko said Satawu would intensify its strike action as the no-retrenchment clause was removed from the wage agreement, meaning that the employer was empowered to retrench.
There have been reports that Transnet has indicated the possibility of retrenchments as it perceived the continuation of the strike as unprotected.
Satawu also wants the issue of deduction of lost wages in two instalments on a “no work, no pay” basis for workers on industrial action to be included in the agreement.
The union also protests that the current wage offer is below inflation, which currently stands at 7.6%.
“Since we cannot differentiate opportunists from the employer and employer from opportunists, the striking field workers as opposed to the house workers must intensify their struggle and mobilisation efforts to avert negative eventualities from confronting the rank and file,” Mazibuko said.
“In summary, our industrial action should continue as planned regardless of the betrayal in question.”
Labour consultant Tony Healy of Tony Healy & Associates said Untu’s wage agreement with Transnet would prevail for other unions as it was signed by a union representing the majority of workers under collective bargaining.
“It makes it impossible for Satawu to negotiate now. We work in a system of collective bargaining which is referred to as majoritarianism, which means the majority will always prevail, and is a by-product of the democratic system.
“When you have a majority of workers in a particular unit voting ‘yes’, then the majority decision prevails and those that are members of the minority need to tow the line.”
The strike by thousands of Transnet workers is said to have cost the economy at least R1 billion per day as goods were stuck in cargo vessels at the ports with little to no clearing.
Oxford Economics Africa head of macro-economics Jacques Nel said though the devastating strike was near its end, the costs could still pile up.
“Reports that the Transnet strike in South Africa is nearing an end is great news for the economy, but Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana will be hoping that similar strikes do not derail his fiscal plans,” Nel said.
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