The United National Transport Union (UNTU), the majority union in the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), welcomes the decision by the PRASA board to stand up against the grave injustice taking place against its workers at the passenger rail operator.

Last night the PRASA board unanimously decided to terminate the contract of Collins Letsoalo, the Acting Group CEO seconded by the Department of Transport to “fix” PRASA .

The decision came after the Sunday Times revealed that Collins, who used to earn a salary package of R1,3 million per year, was payed an annual salary package of R5,9 million, the same amount his predecessor Lucky Montana used to receive.

Yesterday Collins justified his annual salary at a press conference held in Pretoria and said that he had started with the “trimming” of his senior management to save costs. He warned against the total collapse of PRASA thanks to its deficit of R2,3 billion.

Last week salary negotiations for PRASA employees ended in a deadlock after Collins refused to give his negotiating team a mandate to go beyond a 3% wage increase for PRASA employees as of the first of April 2017.

Steve Harris, General Secretary of UNTU who is demanding a 20% salary increase, says it was clear from the first round of negotiations that PRASA did not intend to negotiate in good faith.

“There was never an intention on the side of management to consider the reality their workers need to face: their medical aid contributions increased with 11% to 14%, food prices escalated thanks to the drought the country experienced and the real cost of living is much higher than the predicted consumer price index (CPI).”

“No CEO would sit back and experience how his or her personnel are being murdered, robbed and assaulted daily and not respond. In the past nine months, the acting GCEO have not even once tried to engage with the leadership of the labour organisations to try and assist him in finding solutions to his crisis. That is not the characteristics of a true leader,” says Harris.

UNTU hopes that the deadlock in the current wage negotiations can be resolved by whoever takes over as the acting GCEO. “Although UNTU already has a certificate to embark on a legal strike to bring PRASA to its knees, it has always been the absolute last resort of this responsible trade union,” Harris says.

Issued by UNTU