Strike hurts the workers

COUPON SAVING GONE: COMMUTERS DIG MUCH DEEPER TO GET TO WORK

Children’s food funds used for R70 taxi fee to travel to Pretoria and back each day.

Commuters at KwaMhlanga in Mpumalanga yesterday expressed concern over a strike by bus drivers, saying the industrial action was costing them money. People who bought monthly and weekly tickets will have to dig deeper into their pockets to pay for alternative means of transport.

“This is bad because from today I have to spend R70 daily when commuting in a taxi between KwaMhlanga and my workplace in Pretoria during the strike,” said domestic worker Lindiwe Masombuka, who boarded a minibus taxi at the KwaMhlanga crossing bus pick-up point.

“I wish this strike would come to an end. I will be working this Easter weekend. This means I will have to use the money I reserved to buy food for my children to commute between KwaMhlanga and work in Pretoria,” said another commuter, Moses Msiza.

Bus drivers affiliated to several unions embarked on a strike yesterday, demanding a 12% wage increase and improved working conditions. The employers are offering 7.5%. The unions include the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu), National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), and the Transport and Allied Workers Union (Tawu).

Masombuka and Msiza are some of the hundreds of thousands of people who commute in Public Utility Transport Corporation (Putco) buses between the former KwaNdebele area and Pretoria every day. Masombuka and Msiza said they normally spend far less when buying weekly and monthly coupons to travel on Putco buses. They urged Putco and other bus companies to accede to the unions’ wage demands.

Yesterday morning several Iveco bus taxis and Toyota Quantum minibus taxis were queuing up at the main bus pick-up point and loading commuters to Pretoria, about 70km away.

Many other people, who normally commuted between KwaMhlanga and Siyabuswa, about 40km away, were stranded as there were no taxis going straight to their destination.

Taxi drivers were, however, coining it at the KwaMhlanga crossing.

Taxi driver Jabu Mthombeni said: “I feel sorry for those who have been affected by the strike but I’m also happy because business is very good for me today.”

National spokesperson for Putco, Witness Mhlongo, said about 500 Putco buses were normally ferrying commuters between the former KwaNdebele area and Pretoria on a daily basis before the strike began. She said a solution to the strike did not appear to be imminent.

“Many people in that area rely on our buses,” said Mhlongo. “I cannot assure commuters that there will soon be a solution because this is a national strike that does not affect Putco alone.”

Satawu’s national spokesperson, Solomon Mahlangu, said there were no talks between the unions and the employers in an attempt to end the strike. “We are trying to bring the employers to the table,” he said. – ANA