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The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) has reached a deadlock and declared a dispute against employers at the South African Road Passenger Bargaining Council (SARPBAC). The union participated in the first round of wage talks from the 5th of February to Friday the 9th of February under the auspices of (SARPBC). NUMSA is negotiating with employer associations the South African Bus Employers Association (SABEA) and the Commuters Bus Employers Association (COBEA). Bus companies who are members of SARPBC include Putco, Bojanala’ Algoa, Great North Transport and others, to name but a few. 

The core demands of NUMSA together with other unions is as follows:

Core Labour demands:

Primary health care – full compulsory healthcare for all workers in the industry, subject to qualifying exemptions. Employer contributes 50% and worker contributes 50%.  

Increase in the allowance for the double driver from R450 to R900. (Drivers do on average 18 trips per month, this then represents about R25-00 per trip)

10% increase across the board. (During the course of negotiations we reduced our demand from 15% to 10%)

We want a one year agreement. If the employer wants a multi-year agreement they have to put a good offer on the table. 

Employer demands:

We were taken aback by the Employers response in that despite us having submitted our demands early in December 2023, and the unions motivating for their demands, in January 2024, the bosses came unprepared to respond to our core demands. For example, they are only offering a conditional 4% increase, and they demanded that the unions drop all other demands. They tried to persuade us to extend the first round of wage talks, but we have rejected this proposal. 

Our members gave us a mandate to make significant progress in the five days which were allocated to the talks. However, we are still far from each other. We also do not want to prolong negotiations unnecessarily. The current agreement is going to expire on the 31st of March therefore we have no choice, but to act with speed to try and resolve this round of wage talks. 

This is why we decided to declare a dispute because it became clear that we are not finding each other on the demands outlined above and employers are not prepared to even respond to our core demands. 

We have convened a meeting of Shopstewards in the bus passenger sector for Wednesday 14 February to map the way forward. We are waiting for the Bargaining Council to confirm a date for conciliation which should happen in about 30 days times. In the meantime, we demand that employers must use this time and come back with a better offer, otherwise if they fail, a national strike in the bus passenger sector is unavoidable. We are aware that a strike will inconvenience passengers but we may be compelled to resort to such action if employers do not return with a decent offer on the table. 

Aluta continua!

The struggle continues!

Issued by NUMSA General Secretary Irvin Jim