Satawu warns of having ‘ secret strategy ’
STRIKING bus drivers belonging to the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) have warned the public to fear for the worst should employers fail to meet their demands.
Bus drivers have been on strike countrywide for three weeks, demanding a 13% wage increase and allowances for housing, night-shift and long-distance trips.
Talks between the unions and employers at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration are expected to resume this week.
Satawu Gauteng provincial secretary Chris Nkosi said employers were given an ultimatum to act or face the consequences of a strike action lasting for three months and a “surprise strategy” to be revealed on Friday. “You will see a new Satawu. We have something new in the bag,” Nkosi said, adding that “I would advise the South African citizen to fear the worst”.
He said Satawu had prepared its members psychologically to withstand the challenge. Nkosi also said if the demand for a 13% increase was not met, then workers would revert to the initial demand of 18%.
Yesterday, union members met at the Pieter Roos Park in Parktown to embark on a march which saw them deliver memorandums to various institutions, including the South African Police Service.
Nkosi said yesterday’s march addressed all Satawu’s issues, including the bus strike, wage gaps and the failure of law enforcement to protect workers.
Nkosi added that cases had been opened for the alleged intimidation of members and the alleged bombing of a shop steward.
Major-General Tirhani Maswanganyi said he respected the document, adding that SAPS would give a response “as soon as possible”.
“We are saying to the bus indus- try ‘ watch the space’,” Nkosi said. He said that he had been told Putco was owned by “overseas forces”.
“They don’t care about our country, their only interest is to make money, ” Nkosi said.
Meanwhile, Cosatu supports the bus drivers’ demand for higher wages, it said yesterday.
“We are fully behind workers’ demands as they are reasonable ... The employer is drunk with profits that we make every day and treats our demands as unreasonable,” Cosatu Gauteng secretary Dumisani Dakile said addressing Satawu members.
Nkosi said memorandums would also be handed over to the road freight bargaining council and to the private security sector provident fund.