Bus drivers reject latest wage offer from mediation bodies

WESTERN Cape bus drivers have rejected the SA Road Passenger Bargaining Council (Sarpbac) and the CCMA’s offer of 8.75% and 8.25% for the next two years.

SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) regional spokesperson Faizel Williams said members held a meeting yesterday at 11am.

“The proposal of Sarpbac was rejected by the Western Cape members. So now we are waiting on other provinces to hear from them. Majority rules so we will wait,” Williams said.

At the weekend, Sarpbac announced their revised offer. This follows the collapse of talks between employers and unions after the employers held on firmly on their offer of 8% for the first year and 8.5% for the second while unions reverted to their demand of a 12% increase.

Satawu national spokesperson Zanele Sabela said the union would wait until the end of tomorrow before announcing their decision.

“The union is active in nine provinces and there are so many bus companies, it is not possible for us to get to all of them by now,” she said.

In an advertisement Golden Arrow Bus Services (Gabs) said the strike was jeopardising the future of the bus industry.

“As the strike continues into its third week, one bus company has gone into business rescue and a second major company has agreed not to vote in the bargaining process as their only chance of remaining viable is dependent on being exempt from whatever increases are ultimately agreed to, no matter what,” said Gabs.

They had already invested in 1 000 new buses to modernise the fleet, Gabs said.

“If we continue… will not be able to maintain a modern bus fleet. What unions are now attempting to do is force Gabs to continue paying higher wages than everyone else by imposing an ‘across the board percentage’ obligation on us to pay much higher increases than any other bus company.”

Gabs employs 2 800 people.